Syria Health Cluster Weekly Bulletin: Disease Surveillance Insights (Oct-Dec 2024)

From September 29 to December 28, 2024, Syria reported over 5 million consultations, with more than 1 million classified as notifiable diseases. Sentinel surveillance showed high completeness and timeliness. Ongoing outbreaks of Acute Watery Diarrhea and measles were verified, while Influenza Like Illnesses and Acute Diarrhea were the leading causes of morbidity.

From September 29 to December 28, 2024, across epidemiological weeks 40 to 52, there were a total of 5,116,138 consultations documented, with 1,033,312 cases (20.2%) classified as notifiable diseases. These figures were reported by both the Early Warning, Alert, and Response System (EWARS) and the Early Warning Alert and Response Network (EWARN) in operational areas of the Syrian Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), including both Northwest and Northeast Syria.

A comprehensive network of 1,942 sentinel surveillance sites contributed data to EWARS and EWARN, achieving an impressive average of 90.5% completeness and 82% timeliness in reporting. Throughout this period, a total of 728 alerts were generated, with 613 from EWARS and 115 from EWARN. Notably, 618 of these alerts were verified within a 72-hour timeframe, confirming ongoing outbreaks of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) and measles across the Whole of Syria (WoS).

For the specific morbidity contributions, data indicated that during weeks 40 to 52 in 2024, the reporting included 1,033,312 notifiable disease cases. The primary illnesses affecting all demographics were identified as Influenza Like Illnesses (ILI), accounting for 708,641 cases (69%), followed by Acute Diarrhea (OAD) at 273,767 cases (27%). Other notable conditions included Acute Jaundice Syndrome (AJS) with 15,070 cases (1%), Leishmaniasis at 13,406 cases (1%), and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI), which comprised 8,376 cases (1%).

In summary, between late September and December 2024, Syria faced significant public health challenges, as reflected in the high number of consultations and ongoing disease outbreaks. The extensive network of sentinel surveillance provided timely and complete reporting, highlighting the critical nature of monitoring notifiable diseases such as Influenza Like Illnesses and Acute Diarrhea. These findings underscore the importance of continued vigilance and response efforts to combat disease outbreaks in the region.

Original Source: reliefweb.int