Local cross-border disease surveillance and control: experiences from the Mekong Basin

Abstract

BackgroundThe Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance cooperation (MBDS) is one of several sub-regional disease surveillance networks that have emerged in recent years as an approach to transnational cooperation for infectious disease prevention and control. Since 2003 MBDS has pioneered a unique model for local cross-border cooperation. This study examines stakeholders’ perspectives of these MBDS experiences, based on a survey of local managers and semi-structured interviews with MBDS leaders and the central coordinator.ResultsFifteen managers from 12 of 20 paired cross-border sites completed a written survey. They all monitor most or all of the 17 diseases agreed upon for MBDS surveillance information sharing. Fourteen agreed or strongly agreed with statements about the core MBDS values of cooperation, mutual trust, and transparency, and their own contributions to national and regional disease control (average score of 4.4 of 5.0). Respondents felt they implemented well to very well activities related to surveillance reporting (average scores 3.4 to 3.9 of 4.0), using computers for their work (3.9/4.0), and using surveillance data for action (3.8/4.0). Respondents reported that they did worst in implementing research (2.1/4.0) and somewhat poorly for local laboratory testing (2.9/4.0) and local coordination with cross-border counterparts (2.9/4.0), although all 15 maintain a list with contact information for these counterparts and many know their counterparts. Implementation of specified activities within their collective regional action plan was uneven across the cross-border sites. Most respondents reported positive lessons learned about local cooperation, information sharing and joint problem solving, based on trusting relationships with their cross-border counterparts. They recommend expansion of cross-border sites within MBDS and consideration of the cross-border cooperation model by other sub-regional networks.ConclusionsMBDS has over a decade of experience with its model of local cross-border cooperation in disease surveillance and control. Frontline managers have documented success with this model, strongly support it and recommend its expansion within and beyond the MBDS network. The MBDS cross-border cooperation model is standing the test of time as a solid approach to building and sustaining the public health capabilities needed for disease surveillance and control from the local to national and global levels.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-015-1047-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A integração de saúde entre fronteiras internacionais: uma revisão integrativa

“…The 13 articles analyzed revealed that health actions exist that provided for integration among countries, which took form in the model of international agreements. The data on the governmental policies for the integration of healthcare in international border regions permitted their organization in themes that address the scenarios of health integration agreements, particularly European countries, (11)(12)(13)(14)(15) Asian (16)(17)(18)(19) and South American countries. (20)(21)(22)(23) In these scenarios, the types and goals of the integration agreements could be identified.…”

“…The research methods employed were case studies with qualitative approaches (12,(14)(15)(16)20) or simply described as qualitative. (11,13) Four studies used quantitative methods (17)(18)(19)21) and two followed the mixed method. (22,23) A synthesis of the themes addressed is displayed in chart 1.…”

Public Health Emergencies of International Concern: Global, Regional, and Local Responses to Risk

“…These include the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance initiative, which covers 'Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the Yunnan and Guangxi provinces of China'. 83 In addition to helping to build regional capacity, in the context of emergencies, existing networks may also be utilised to provide a framework for decision-making. For example, during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the WHO African Vaccine Regulatory Forum provided a forum 'for regulators, ethics committees and sponsors to reach consensus on key ethical and regulatory questions'.…”

Nigeria’s Ebola Outbreak Response: Lessons for Future Epidemic Preparedness

“…The point of entry team carried out entry and exit screening under the leadership of the Port Health Service and supported by airport, seaport and land border authorities [8]. They also worked with airline operators, national aviation authorities, immigration, maritime, custom and security officials to establish screening facilities and protocols for checking temperatures and screening of incoming and exiting passengers in Lagos and Portharcourt airports, sea ports and ground crossings.…”

“…Cross-border surveillance activities including community awareness and engagement, and improved referral system and capacities would reinforce early detection and rapid control of EVD. This approach has been shown to be critical to building and sustaining effective public health response capacities at local, national and global levels [8,[18][19][20].…”