Surveillance and response to avian and pandemic influenza in zambia(CDC-RFA-IP21-2101)project proposal (year 1) - influenza surveillance among cases of influenza-like illness and severe acute…

Surveillance and response to avian and pandemic influenza in zambia(CDC-RFA-IP21-2101)project proposal (year 1) - influenza surveillance among cases of influenza-like illness and severe acute respiratoryillness (ILI/SARI), identified at selected sentinel health facilities in zambia has been ongoingsince 2008. The surveillance program is managed by the national influenza center (NIC) atthe university teaching hospitals (UTH) on behalf of the ministry of health (MOH). Thesystem currently comprises ten sentinel sites located in four provinces and captures datafrom both children and adults, resident in densely populated urban settings as well as bordertowns with high tourism and cross-border trading activities. The aim of the proposed project is to support continued and improved influenza surveillanceactivities as well as to expand operations to sites with high potential for animal to humantransmission of infection. Sentinel sites collecting only epidemiological data on ILI/saricases will also be established to cover the remaining six provinces of the country. Laboratoryinvestigation for causative pathogens will only be done in these six new sites, in response tospecific triggers such as an increased number of cases.currently all ILI/SARI samples collected are tested for both for influenza and sars COV 2. Inorder to generate information to guide the covid-19 immunization program, a specificmultiplex assay targeting different covid-19 variants will be introduced. Laboratorymonitoring for the circulation of respiratory pathogens will extend to non-influenza andother vaccine preventable viral and bacterial pathogens using a multiplex assay. Isolation ofinfluenza viruses and sharing of zambian strains with the global influenza surveillance andresponse system (GISRS) will continue. Ultimately, the NIC aims to build upon existing highthroughput sanger sequencing capacity by adding next generation sequencing capabilities. This will greatly enhance the country?S ability to generate detailed information on circulatingrespiratory pathogens in zambia. All operations will be targeted towards improvement in the quality of the data collected. Theprogram will migrate to electronic data collection and use of a web-based platform to enablereal-time data visualisation. To maintain a high quality of collected samples continuous competence monitoring and supervision of sentinel site staff will be done by the NIC.laboratories will continue implementing quality management systems with routineparticipation in external quality assurance programs with the who and CDC. The zambian influenza sentinel surveillance program has been successful in its first tenyears of operation, and has demonstrated potential to be strengthened to become a regionalreference center in southern africa, zambia being the host country for the regionalcollaborating centre (RCC) of the africa centers for disease control and prevention (AFRICACDC)