Consultant John Pfister along with APHL staff members Ralph Timperi and Mika Kadono traveled to Windhoek, Namibia Jume 18-21, 2013 to plan, conduct and facilitate a Ministry of Health and Social Services (MOHSS) planning meeting for laboratory-based disease surveillance.The primary objective of the meeting was to develop a scope of work and timeline for development and implementation of laboratory-based disease surveillance and reporting system.
The meeting objectives were accomplished successfully. It was decided by consensus that initially five reports for the first phase of the Namibia Integrated Lab-based Disease Surveillance Reports (NILDSR) will be developed and ready for validation by 31 August 2013:
1. Daily report of positive laboratory findings of critical or epidemic potential diseases
2. Weekly summary report of laboratory findings of the Namibia IDSR reportable diseases
3. Monthly laboratory report of tuberculosis testing
4. Monthly report of HIV diagnostic testing
5. Monthly report of malaria diagnostic testing
In phase two to begin in parallel, a server will be set up at MOHSS to run the reports and receive data from other laboratories, public and private. Electronic reporting by Email would be initiated after the accuracy of the reports is assessed and verified.
