Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC202587 (Poster 061) | Published: 04 Aug 2025
Awung Nkeze Elvis1,&, Nyong Harrison Ndukong¹, Nsuh Naomi Manka’a¹
¹Naomi’s Medical Laboratory, Douala, Cameroon
&Corresponding author: Awung Nkeze Elvis, Naomi’s Medical Laboratory, Douala, Cameroon Email: awungnkezeelvis@gmail.com
Received: 17 Apr 2025, Accepted: 09 Jul 2025, Published: 04 Aug 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
This is part of the Proceedings of the ECOWAS 2nd Lassa fever International Conference in Abidjan, September 8 – 11, 2025
Keywords: Surveillance systems, disease tracking, Africa, digital health, public health infrastructure, ASLM, One Health, outbreak response
©Awung Nkeze Elvis 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: Awung Nkeze Elvis et al., Strengthening national and regional surveillance systems: Enhancing disease tracking capabilities across Africa. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(Conf Proc 5):00205. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO5-00205
The increasing burden of infectious diseases and emerging global health threats necessitate robust, scalable, and adaptive disease surveillance systems. Supported by the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), this study highlights strategic approaches to strengthening national and regional disease surveillance frameworks within Africa’s health landscape.
A review of regional initiatives, country case studies, and peer-reviewed literature was performed to evaluate challenges, innovations, capacity-building efforts, and policy frameworks. Focus areas included integrated surveillance systems, syndromic surveillance, digital health tools such as artificial intelligence (AI), geographic information systems (GIS), Internet of Things (IoT), and collaborative networks.
Findings indicate that combining traditional surveillance with digital innovations—AI-driven analytics, telemonitoring, and 5G-enabled data sharing—significantly enhances real-time disease tracking and epidemic intelligence. Intersectoral collaboration through the One Health approach, field epidemiology training, and regional networks like EAIDSNet has strengthened cross-border coordination. Persistent challenges include data silos, infrastructural gaps, and inconsistent policy adoption.
Sustained investment, technological integration, and cross-border cooperation are essential to strengthen surveillance systems in Africa. ASLM’s model exemplifies a practical pathway toward resilient public health systems capable of early detection, efficient response, and sustained preparedness against emerging disease threats.
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