Evaluation of influenza sentinel surveillance system, Saudi Arabia, 2017-2018: a teaching case-study
Mohamed Nageeb Abdalla, Muhannad Almalki, Sami S. Almudarra
Corresponding author: Mohamed Nageeb Abdalla, Saudi Field Epidemiology Training Program, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 
Received: 03 Jul 2020 - Accepted: 29 Jul 2020 - Published: 06 Aug 2020
Domain: Infectious diseases epidemiology
Keywords: Influenza, evaluation, public health surveillance, Saudi Arabia
This article is published as part of the supplement Teaching case-studies in Field Epidemiology with a focus on the Eastern Mediterranean Region, commissioned by The Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET).
©Mohamed Nageeb Abdalla et al. Pan African Medical Journal (ISSN: 1937-8688). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Mohamed Nageeb Abdalla et al. Evaluation of influenza sentinel surveillance system, Saudi Arabia, 2017-2018: a teaching case-study. Pan African Medical Journal. 2020;36(1):13. [doi: 10.11604/pamj.supp.2020.36.1.24777]
Available online at: https://www.panafrican-med-journal.com/content/series/36/1/13/full
PDF in process Case study 
Evaluation of influenza sentinel surveillance system, Saudi Arabia, 2017-2018: a teaching case-study
Evaluation of influenza sentinel surveillance system, Saudi Arabia, 2017-2018: a teaching case-study
Mohamed Nageeb Abdalla1,&, Muhannad Almalki1, Sami S. Almudarra1
&Corresponding author
Influenza is a disease of global importance and concern. The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Influenza Strategy for 2019-2030 categorizes influenza as a global threat, where national prevention and control programs play a substantial role in achieving the strategy´s goals. Strengthening Influenza surveillance activities is a core function of control and preparedness for future pandemics. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is very much concerned with such epidemic-prone diseases, given the annual gathering of Muslims from all over the world for Hajj and Umra. In response, the Saudi Public Health authority established a National Influenza Surveillance System. Initial and periodic evaluation of such programs leads to improvement to their performance and quality. This case-study aims to build capacity of trainees in the processes of public health surveillance evaluation and to develop essential trainee´s competencies in surveillance programs evaluation. It is intended to inform Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) residents of the know-hows of being engaged in evaluation tasks, in particular evaluation of surveillance programs. The case study is designed for training novice field epidemiology trainees. The case study can be administered in 3-4 hours. Used as adjunct training material, the case study provides the trainees with competencies in evaluating public health surveillance programs at local or national levels including analysis and interpretation of data. It is also designed to improve their practice of teamwork concepts.
General instructions: this case study should be used as adjunct training material for novice epidemiology trainees to reinforce the concepts taught in prior lectures. The case study is ideally taught by a facilitator in groups of about 20 participants. Participants are to take turns reading the case study, usually a paragraph per student. The facilitator guides the discussion on possible responses to questions. The facilitator may make use of flip charts to illustrate certain points. Additional instructor´s notes for facilitation are coupled with each question in the instructor´s guide to aid facilitation.
Audience: this case study was developed for novice field epidemiology students. These participants are commonly health care workers working in the country departments of health whose background may be as medical doctors, nurses, environmental health officers or laboratory scientists who work in public health-related fields. Most have a health science or biology background.
Prerequisites: Before using this case study, participants should have received lectures on disease surveillance and evaluation of public health surveillance.
Materials needed: Flash drive, flip charts, markers, computers with MS Excel.
Level of Training and Associated Public Health Activity: Novice - Disease Surveillance and Evaluation of Public Health Surveillance.
Time required: 3-4 hours
Language: English
- Download the case study student guide (PDF - 513 KB)
- Request the case study facilitator guide
The authors declare no competing interests.
We wish to acknowledge the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET) for their support to develop this case study. We appreciate assistance provided by ISSA and are grateful to those who participated in the survey.
Annex 1: Epidemiological data (modified) of ILI & SARI cases, MS-Excel
Annex 2: Survey data on influenza surveillance attributes, MS-Excel
Annex 3: Influenza surveillance evaluation Survey questionnaire
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- Pan American Health Organization. IHR, Alert and Response, and Epidemic Diseases Project. Operational Guidelines for Intensified National SARI Surveillance. Washington, D. C. January 2011. https://www.paho.org/hq/dmdocuments/2012/SARI-ENG-NOV2011.pdf. Accessed 31 January 2020.. PubMed | Google Scholar
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