The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India and the World Health Organization (WHO) organized a Joint Monitoring Mission (JMM) to review the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), both at the national and sub-national levels from 26 November to 8 December 2015 in the core areas of surveillance, laboratory network, information systems, infrastructure, governance, finance and human resources.
The main objectives of the JMM were to: determine how IDSP is progressing and to determine whether any changes are required in the current model; determine the country needs in regards to strengthening the indicators and event-based surveillance systems; identify gaps and opportunities in performing the core and support functions of surveillance, and assessing the resources available, and finally, develop a prioritized action plan based on the assessment findings.
Thanking the JMM members for their painstaking efforts, Mr C. K. Mishra, Additional Secretary and Mission Director, National Health Mission, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare said that it has pooled learning and experiences and this will be vital in our efforts to strengthen IDSP.
“We look forward to receiving doable action points from JMM,” he added.
Speaking about the JMM, Dr Henk Bekedam, WHO Representative to India said, “WHO commends the commitment of Government of India in strengthening IDSP. It demonstrates the government’s commitment to strengthen IDSP, a programme vital for India’s progress in health.”
“We will provide all necessary technical support to the government in further strengthening IDSP as per the recommendations of the JMM,” he added.
Around 60 technical experts, both national and International, visited nine states to assess various aspects of IDSP through structured assessment tools. Thematic papers were also developed by technical experts to support the field visits. The states visited were: Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Delhi and Jharkhand.
The far-reaching recommendations of the JMM will strengthen the core capacities outlined in both International Health Regulations and India’s Health Security and are expected to have a major positive impact on the overall IDSP operations.