WHO, together with the Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine (UPHC), organized a 2-day training workshop on 6–7 June 2023 on the core concepts and best practices of syndromic surveillance in emergency response. The training was intended for regional-level epidemiologists and surveillance officers in Ukraine.
Supporting Ukraine’s plans to establish a syndromic surveillance system, the aim of the training was to familiarize Ukrainian public health experts with the core features of such systems, their strengths, weaknesses, and data management. The training also covered how such systems are used during an emergency response scenario, and how they complement routine surveillance.
The workshop brought together 25 epidemiologists and public health experts from the regional centres for disease control and prevention (CDC). It highlighted the added value of setting up a syndromic surveillance system during an emergency, collecting and using health-related data that precede diagnosis in order to strengthen surveillance. The main goal of the training was to enable public health authorities to make full use of data collected, and to respond promptly with minimum resources at their disposal.
Syndromic surveillance
Syndromic surveillance enables early detection of diseases or conditions even before they are confirmed by a laboratory, which is crucial in disease surveillance during emergencies.
This training covered theoretical epidemiology principles as well as practical solutions and lessons learned from other emergency settings where syndromic surveillance has been used.
Participants learned how to design and implement a syndromic surveillance system and used case studies to manage possible signals derived from the collection of syndromic surveillance data.
“Given the significant challenges faced by Ukraine's public health system due to the ongoing war, the training on syndromic surveillance for regional CDC is of the utmost importance. By actively implementing new approaches in disease surveillance, we can improve the early notification and timely response to disease cases and outbreaks, both during and after the war. This will ultimately strengthen the resilience of Ukraine's public health system,” summarized Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine.
“Today’s training, conducted by the Ukrainian Public Health Center together with WHO, on the implementation of syndromic surveillance in Ukraine as a necessary element of the Early Warning Alert and Response System is especially relevant in the context of the war in Ukraine,” said Oksana Koshalko, Head of the Department of Organization of Epidemiological Surveillance at the UPHC.
A participant, Halyna Zaitseva, Deputy Director of Sumy oblast’s CDC, commented: “The training was great. There is no such thing as ‘learning too much’, especially when talking about new topics or even being able to discuss some old ones with your colleagues. Syndromic surveillance is a new approach for Ukraine – we have not yet used it as a means for disease case detection. Now that the basic training is complete, we are looking forward to advanced training – particularly some hands-on exercises with the instruments that are currently being developed”.
Valentyna Lipchanchuk, another participant from Kyiv oblast CDC, added “This training was useful, especially given the conditions that we currently have to work in. Syndromic surveillance will allow us to detect public health risks at the beginning of disease outbreaks. This training helped us understand the basics, so we will be waiting for the systematization and standardization of this approach in Ukraine.”
This workshop is part of a series organized to support the public health emergency response in Ukraine and build the pillars of a strong surveillance system. The training was provided with financial support from the United States CDC.