Critical analysis of infectious disease surveillance and response system in Nigeria

This review examines Nigeria's need for enhanced infectious disease response and surveillance systems, comparing current models and effective deployments from other nations. The review adopted the critical literature analysis method to synthesise findings from peer-reviewed journal articles, official reports, and case studies. The analysis compared Nigeria's infectious disease surveillance, response, and intervention practices with global best practices to identify gaps and propose actionable recommendations. Findings revealed serious weaknesses in Nigeria's infectious diseases surveillance system. For instance, COVID-19 exposed serious flaws in the nation’s contact tracing and testing capacity, with about 1.78 million samples tested by mid-2021, compared with 3.2 million in South Africa. Whereas, malaria causes 60% of outpatient visits and more than 194,000 mortalities annually. About 41 mortalities were linked to cholera epidemics within the second quarter of 2024, resulting from inadequate water and sanitation facilities. Findings revealed underreporting of infectious diseases in Nigeria, including Tuberculosis (TB) where 15.5% of bacteriologically confirmed cases in Lagos in 2022 went unreported. During the early outbreak of COVID-19, only 10–50% of symptomatic cases were reported. Findings also showed the financial burden posed by infectious diseases, including malaria which costs Nigeria about $1.1 billion annually. To improve disease surveillance and response in Nigeria, the review recommended the implementation of digital health technologies including mHealth and GIS mapping. While also enhancing healthcare worker training, instituting integrated disease surveillance systems, and fortifying health policy frameworks.