What Is Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR)?

In response to the emergence of severe outbreaks of largely preventable diseases in African countries during the 1990s, the 46 Member States of the WHO African Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO) met in Zimbabwe in 1998 to adopt Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) as a comprehensive regional framework for strengthening national public health surveillance and response systems in Africa. In 2006, WHO/AFRO Member States recommended that the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) be implemented using the IDSR framework, especially for strengthening core capacities for surveillance and response. The IDSR framework illustrates the functions, activities and skills required to implement a coordinated, comprehensive surveillance and response system. Activities for each level of the system are designated for disease detection, reporting, analysis, investigation, response, communication, monitoring, evaluation and preparedness, view IDSR Matrix English, French and Portuguese. The IDSR framework also specifies African public health priorities including 40 priority diseases and conditions. These are diseases which are largely preventable with well-known and efficacious responses.

The goal of IDSR is to strengthen surveillance and response capabilities at each level of the health system by building local capacities and leveraging strengths and areas of expertise through partnership and coordination.

The vision of IDSR is to improve the availability and use of surveillance and laboratory data so that public health managers and decision makers can plan for and carry out more timely detection and response to the leading causes of illness, death and disability in African countries and save lives.