Knowledge and Practice of Disease Surveillance and Notification among Health Workers in Wamakko LGAof Sokoto, Nigeria.

Background: Over time, disease outbreaks in Nigeria have been attributed to under-reporting by healthcare workers. Disease surveillance and notification are important for early detection of disease outbreaks, timely response, and reduction of morbidity and death. This study assessed the knowledge and practice of disease surveillance and notification (DSN) among health workers in public health facilities in Wamakko LGA of Sokoto State.

Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 167 healthcare workers of all cadres in six primary health facilities. Data was collected from participants selected via convenience sampling method, using an interview-based semi-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: Most of the participants were Community Health Extension Workers (CHEW) (34.1%). The majority were aware that some diseases required notification (98.8%), where or who to report/notify diseases (83.8%), and of the DSN system (68.9%). The practice of disease notification was also comparatively good. Educational qualification (p=0.004) and years of working experience (p=0.041) were found to be significantly associated with the level of knowledge on disease surveillance and notification. There was no significant association between the level of practice of DSN and the level of knowledge (p=0.515), work experience (p=0.303), supervision (p=0.372), and motivation/incentives to disease reporting (p=.293). The notable identified challenges to disease reporting were the non-availability of reporting forms and stationery.

Conclusion: Even though disease notification and surveillance are common in Nigeria, the practice and specific use of the surveillance and notification tools still fall short of the standard required for effective monitoring of the trend of disease and forestalling outbreaks. Regular training and revision courses on DSN for healthcare workers at the LGA level, especially on the uses of each DSN form are recommended.