Factors Influencing Community Event-based Surveillance: Lessons Learned from Pilot Implementation in Vietnam

Community event-based surveillance aims to enhance the early detection of emerging public health threats and thus build health security. The Ministry of Health of Vietnam launched a community event-based surveillance pilot program in 6 provinces to improve the early warning functions of the existing surveillance system. An evaluation of the pilot program took place in 2017 and 2018. Data from this evaluation were analyzed to determine which factors were associated with increased detection and reporting. Results show that a number of small, local events were detected and reported through community event-based surveillance, supporting the notion that it would also facilitate the rapid detection and reporting of potentially larger events or outbreaks. The study showed the value of supportive supervision and monitoring to sustain community health worker reporting and the importance of conducting evaluations for community event-based surveillance programs to identify barriers to effective implementation.