Performance of National Measles Case-Based Surveillance Systems in The WHO African Region. 2012 – 2016

Case based surveillance for measles is implemented in the African Region integrated with Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance. In 2011, the Region adopted a measles elimination goal to be achieved by 2020, which included coverage, incidence and surveillance performance targets. We reviewed measles case-based surveillance data and surveillance performance from countries in the African Region for the years 2012 - 2016. During this period, a total of 359,019 cases of suspected measles were reported from the 44 of 47 (94%) countries using the case based surveillance system. Of these, 202,126 (56%) had specimens collected for laboratory testing. A total of 39,806 measles cases and 25,679 rubella cases were confirmed by IgM serology. Twelve countries met the two principal surveillance performance indicators for each year during the period and four countries met neither indicator over the period. At the Regional level, both surveillance targets were met in 3 of the 5 years in the period of study; however performance varies widely by country. Surveillance performance did not improve across the Region during the 5 years period. High quality surveillance performance is critical to support the achievement of the regional measles elimination goal. Better integrating implementation with AFP surveillance, securing predictable long-term funding sources, and conducting detailed evaluations at country level to identify and address the root cause of performance gaps is recommended.