Understanding drivers and barriers to stakeholder participation in syndromic surveillance for application in Australia

Early detection of disease is crucial for an effective and timely disease control and eradication response and requires sensitive and robust surveillance systems. The use of early warning systems based on the systematic monitoring of health data and the identification of syndromes, known as syndromic surveillance systems, has been used for early identification of human and animal health events. Despite the marked development in animal health syndromic surveillance (AHSyS) systems in the last two decades, challenges for the implementation of functional AHSyS systems continue to exist, with limited research investigating stakeholder perspectives on these systems. The current project aimed to identify key drivers and barriers of livestock industry private sector stakeholder participation in syndromic surveillance in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. To achieve this aim, a qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with seven international syndromic surveillance experts and 17 private sector stakeholders, including abattoirs, knackeries, animal health consultants/veterinarians, research institutions, livestock industries, pharmaceutical companies, private veterinary laboratories and a national animal health body. The expert consultation identified that despite the significant advancements on AHSyS in the last two decades, implementation of AHSyS systems continue to be limited, with key considerations being the lack of data standardisation, issues with data privacy, data integration and the limited consideration of stakeholder needs for supporting decision-making and benefits from participation. Strong iterative collaboration with all stakeholders with high levels of trust, appropriate resourcing, and balance between regulatory and industry needs are required for supporting system sustainability. Animal health surveillance was important for all stakeholders in the consultation, however understanding of syndromic surveillance systems was limited. A significant amount of health and production data is already being collected by stakeholders; however, the data type and data collection platforms are highly variable, confirming the complexity for standardisation and integration. The major stakeholder concerns were in relation to privacy, protection of information and the potential commercial and/or trade implications of data misuse or misrepresentation, the required additional resourcing for participating and the regulatory nature of such system. Despite these concerns, all stakeholders showed interest in being involved in further discussions on the development of an AHSyS system. A successful AHSyS system should consider representativeness and quality of the data, simplicity in data collection and processing, clear benefits and value of the outputs, and strong collaboration across all relevant stakeholders. Outcomes from this project will inform future activities for the development of AHSyS initiatives in Australia.