Technical Guidelines for Integrated Disease Surveillance ... - PHRplus

Periodically review and update other resources: Presence of trained staff Resources for transportation and communication Procedures for procuring additional, emergency stocks of vaccines and conducting aprompt vaccine response to an emergency5.1.3 Prepare district epidemic response planAs part of its overall health plan, every district should have in place an epidemic preparedness and responseplan that is prepared by the district health management team and is based on an assessment of the district’sexisting state of preparedness. The plan should define resources (human, financial, medical, etc.) that would beneeded in the event of a disease outbreak and therefore should be kept available at the district and individualhealth facility levels. More specifically, those resources are:Human resources to manage and implement response activitiesFinancial resources to support investigation and control activitiesEmergency stocks of required drugs and other medical supplies according to the recommendation ofthe country’s health systemLaboratory support for confirmation of pathogens responsible for the epidemics. If a district does nothave the laboratory facility, identify the reference laboratory and mechanism for appropriatelycollecting and transporting specimens to that laboratory. Make sure the transport procedure allowsfor the specimens to: Be kept at the recommended temperatureArrive at the laboratory as quickly as possibleLogistics support (travel of rapid response team, accommodation arrangement, communication, otheressential equipment)Related to the above, procedures to obtain additional, emergency support from the regional andnational levels during an epidemic: for example, the district should know when to request additionalsupport, whom to contact, what information will be needed to consider a requestThe plan then must be presented to and approved by the DEMC. Once approval is secured, supplies andother resources required by the plan should be procured and maintained.The plan should be periodically reviewed and updated as necessary at each DEMC meeting to ensure thatthe district as a whole and individual facilities are ready to respond to a disease outbreak at all times.5.1.4 Update personnel skills5.1.4.1 Train health staffs to carry out responseThe preparedness and response plan emphasizes the need for health staff who can recognize and respond todisease outbreaks. An important component of preparedness therefore is the training – and retraining – of districtand other health staff who will be directly involved in the management and implementation of response activities.Initial training is needed to impart skills; retraining is needed to maintain those skills and to update staff on56Technical Guidelines for Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response in Ghana