Insights from Malawi's Deep Dive of the Integrated Disease Surveillance System | IANPHI | Atlanta GA - ISS-G20 Laboratorium Repository

The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on the world revealing significant weaknesses and gaps in our health systems. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of robust and well-functioning surveillance systems given how essential they are to local decision-making and global information sharing. A country’s capacity to collect, compile, diagnose, monitor, and analyze data is the foundation of an effective surveillance system that enables countries to plan and take necessary control measures.

Moreover, an integrated disease surveillance (IDS) strategy optimizes the use of resources by integrating, standardizing, and coordinating information from various surveillance systems, registries, and other data sources, and facilitating reporting and promoting data use by decision-makers.

Like a majority of African countries, Malawi has adopted the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) strategy developed by the World Health Organization's Regional Office for Africa as its national surveillance system. In Malawi, the implementation of the IDSR strategy is supervised by the Public Health Institute of Malawi (PHIM).   

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