Comparative Assessment of the Implementation of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response in Public and Private Health Facilities in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria

Background: Due to the continuous increase in the spread of epidemic-prone diseases and the associated morbidity and mortality, integrated disease surveillance and response (IDSR) was introduced as the main strategy in resource-poor settings for the detection and notification of these diseases. Integrated disease surveillance is a combination of active and passive systems using a single infrastructure that gathers information about multiple diseases or behaviors of interest. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted between March and July 2018 among selected public and private health facilities in Jos North Local Government Area (LGA), Plateau State. Quantitative data were collected with the aid of a semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire and facility-based checklist. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. Statistical significance level was set at P & LE; 0.05 at a 95% confidence level. Results: A total of 126 health workers were studied. IDSR-trained health personnel was found in 52.7% of the public health facilities compared with only 16.7% of the private health facilities studied (P < 0.001). Awareness of IDSR was higher in the public health facilities than in the private ones (P < 0.001). IDSR implementation was poorer in the private health facilities 40.7% compared with 76.4% in public health facilities (P < 0.001). Evidence of previous disease notification and reporting was seen only in 33.3% and 16.7% of public and private health facilities, respectively (P < 0.001). Conclusion: This study revealed that awareness and attitude of health workers in public health facilities in Jos North were higher than that of those in private health facilities and there is the sub-optimal implementation of IDSR among the health workers in Jos North LGA, especially among the private health facilities.