Conference Abstract | Volume 9 (ConfPro8): Abstract 46 | Published: 07 Oct 2026
Chelsea Makafui Adzah1,&, Iddrisu Saliu1, Joyce Der1
1Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, Fred Newton Binka School of Public Health, UHAS, Hohoe, Ghana
&Corresponding author: Chelsea Makafui Adzah, Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, Fred Newton Binka School of Public Health – UHAS, Hohoe, Ghana, Email: makafuichelsea@gmail.com
Received: 11 Mar 2026, Accepted: 30 Aug 2026, Published: 07 Oct 2026
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Typhoid, surveillance system, CDC guidelines, Hohoe Municipality
©Chelsea Makafui Adzah et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Chelsea Makafui Adzah et al., Typhoid fever surveillance system evaluation, Hohoe municipality, 2020-2024. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2026;9(ConfPro8):46. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO8-0046
Typhoid fever remains a significant public health concern in Ghana, particularly in settings with inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) conditions. Effective surveillance is essential for early detection, monitoring, and response to cases and outbreaks. However, limited evidence exists on the performance of the typhoid fever surveillance system in Hohoe Municipality. This study evaluated the system’s performance, attributes, usefulness, and ability to achieve its objectives from 2020 to 2024.
A descriptive cross-sectional study combined with secondary data analysis was conducted to evaluate the typhoid fever surveillance system in Hohoe Municipality. Quantitative data were collected from 13 selected health facilities across four sub-municipalities. Data sources included the District Health Information Management System (DHIMS2), Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) form, morbidity register, and facility records covering 2020–2024. The evaluation assessed key surveillance attributes, including simplicity, flexibility, acceptability, stability, data quality, timeliness, representativeness, sensitivity, and positive predictive value, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveillance system evaluation guidelines. Data was analyzed using frequencies, percentages, and descriptive statistics in Microsoft Excel.
The surveillance system demonstrated good acceptability (84.6%) and moderate performance in simplicity (73.0%), flexibility (73.0%), data quality (73.8%), and timeliness (69.2%). The system identified high-risk populations, particularly individuals aged 20–34 years, and demonstrated consistent representation across sex and age groups. However, weaknesses were observed in stability (53.8%), outbreak detection, and laboratory confirmation. Of the 23,917 suspected typhoid cases reported during the five-year period, none were culture-confirmed, resulting in a positive predictive value of 0%. Surveillance data was also underutilized for public health action, and no established outbreak threshold was identified.
The typhoid fever surveillance system in Hohoe Municipality is partially functional and acceptable, but gaps in diagnostic confirmation, stability, outbreak detection, and data utilization limit its effectiveness. Strengthening laboratory capacity, improving facility-level data use, and establishing clear outbreak thresholds are critical to improving surveillance performance and public health response.
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