Real-time surveillance of infectious diseases and other health conditions during the arbaeenia mass gathering, Kerbala, Iraq, 2016: a teaching case-study
Inam Hameed
Corresponding author: Inam Hameed, Higher Diploma Field Epidemiology, Ministry of Health, Iraq/Kerbala Health Directorate/ Surveillance Unit, Iraq 
Received: 02 Jul 2020 - Accepted: 20 Jul 2020 - Published: 03 Aug 2020
Domain: Health system development
Keywords: Mass gathering, surveillance, infectious diseases
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).
©Inam Hameed 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: Inam Hameed et al. Real-time surveillance of infectious diseases and other health conditions during the arbaeenia mass gathering, Kerbala, Iraq, 2016: a teaching case-study. Pan African Medical Journal. 2020;36(1):6. [doi: 10.11604/pamj.supp.2020.36.1.24756]
Available online at: https://www.panafrican-med-journal.com/content/series/36/1/6/full
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Real-time surveillance of infectious diseases and other health conditions during the arbaeenia mass gathering, Kerbala, Iraq, 2016: a teaching case-study
Real-time surveillance of infectious diseases and other health conditions during the arbaeenia mass gathering, Kerbala, Iraq, 2016: a teaching case-study
Inam Hameed1,&
&Corresponding author
The Arbaeenia mass gathering (MG) is considered the largest religious MG in Iraq and occurs annually in the city of Kerbala with participation of several million visitors from different countries and most Iraqi provinces. This MG places attendants at a significant risk for contracting communicable diseases, sustaining injuries, and facing complications of health problems related to chronic diseases due to overcrowding and intensive physical activity. The goal of this case study to build the capacity of trainees on how to improve the surveillance systems for infectious diseases and other health conditions during MGs. This case study is based on the implementation of a real time surveillance system for illness and health problems affecting people attending the Arbaeenia MG in 2016 which enabled the surveillance team in Iraq to rapidly detect and respond to disease outbreaks. This case study teaches students how MGs offer an opportunity to improve existing surveillance systems or establish new ones. 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 to use real time technology for surveillance data collection, analysis and timely response during the event.
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 county 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 definition, objectives and types of public health surveillance, Mass gathering and public health.
Materials needed: Flash drive, flip charts, markers, computers with MS Excel
Level of training and associated public health activity: Novice - Surveillance
Time required: 2-3 hours
Language: English
- Download the case study student guide (PDF - 454 KB)
- Request the case study facilitator guide
The author declares no competing interests.
We wish to acknowledge the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET) for their support to develop this case study.
Annex 1: Data real time surveillance MG, IRAQ,2016
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