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Alausa emphasised that this data-driven approach is essential for formulating evidence-based policies, efficiently allocating resources, and monitoring the effectiveness of interventions over time. In a statement, the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (Abuja, Nigeria) states that the absence of comprehensive data on cancer incidence and prevalence has substantially hindered effective cancer control strategies, and by mandating the reporting of all diagnosed cancer cases, private and public health-care institutions will now be contributing to a robust National Cancer Registry. During the public presentation of the National Cancer Registry Regulations for Nigeria, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare highlighted the pivotal role of case reporting and notification in advancing the nation's public health strategy.

Early detection of disease outbreaks in human and animal populations is crucial to the effective surveillance of emerging infectious diseases. However, there are marked geographical disparities in capacity for early detection of outbreaks, which limit the effectiveness of global surveillance strategies. Linking surveillance approaches for emerging and neglected endemic zoonoses, with a renewed focus on existing disease problems in developing countries, has the potential to overcome several limitations and to achieve additional health benefits. Poor reporting is a major constraint to the surveillance of both emerging and endemic zoonoses, and several important barriers to reporting can be identified: (i) a lack of tangible benefits when reports are made; (ii) a lack of capacity to enforce regulations; (iii) poor communication among communities, institutions and sectors; and (iv) complexities of the international regulatory environment. Redirecting surveillance efforts to focus on endemic zoonoses in developing countries offers a pragmatic approach that overcomes some of these barriers and provides support in regions where surveillance capacity is currently weakest. In addition, this approach addresses immediate health and development problems, and provides an equitable and sustainable mechanism for building the culture of surveillance and the core capacities that are needed for all zoonotic pathogens, including emerging disease threats.

Globally, TB notifications have stagnated since 2007, and sputum smear positive notifications have been declining despite policies to improve case detection. We evaluate results of 28 interventions focused on improving TB case detection. We measured additional sputum smear positive cases treated, defined as the intervention area's increase in case notification during the project compared to the previous year. Projects were encouraged to select control areas and collect historical notification data. We used time series negative binomial regression for over-dispersed cross-sectional data accounting for fixed and random effects to test the individual projects' effects on TB notification while controlling for trend and control populations. Twenty-eight projects, 19 with control populations, completed at least four quarters of case finding activities, covering a population of 89.2 million. Among all projects sputum smear positive (SS+) TB notifications increased 24.9% and annualized notification rates increased from 69.1 to 86.2/100,000 (p = 0.0209) during interventions. Among the 19 projects with control populations, SS+TB case notifications increased 36.9% increase while in the control populations a 3.6% decrease was observed. Fourteen (74%) of the 19 projects' SS+TB notification rates in intervention areas increased from the baseline to intervention period when controlling for historical trends and notifications in control areas. Interventions were associated with large increases in TB notifications across many settings, using an array of interventions. Many people with TB are not reached using current approaches. Different methods and interventions tailored to local realities are urgently needed.

Time needed to report surveillance data within the public health service delays public health actions. The amendment to the infection protection act (IfSG) from 29 March 2013 requires local and state public health agencies to report surveillance data within one working day instead of one week. We analysed factors associated with reporting time and evaluated the IfSG amendment. Local reporting time is the time between date of notification and date of export to the state public health agency and state reporting time is time between date of arrival at the state public health agency and the date of export. We selected cases reported between 28 March 2012 and 28 March 2014. We calculated the median local and state reporting time, stratified by potentially influential factors, computed a negative binominal regression model and assessed quality and workload parameters. Before the IfSG amendment the median local reporting time was 4 days and 1 day afterwards. The state reporting time was 0 days before and after. Influential factors are the individual local public health agency, the notified disease, the notification software and the day of the week. Data quality and workload parameters did not change. The IfSG amendment has decreased local reporting time, no relevant loss of data quality or identifiable workload-increase could be detected. State reporting time is negligible. We recommend efforts to harmonise practices of local public health agencies including the exclusive use of software with fully compatible interfaces.

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are environmental pathogens that are an increasingly common cause of pulmonary and extrapulmonary disease. Electronic laboratory-based reporting is a straightforward mechanism for identifying NTM infections and for monitoring trends in disease. Oregon was the first state to make NTM reportable, although at this time the reporting requirement is limited to extrapulmonary infection. This has assisted authorities in detecting outbreaks and healthcare-related infections. However, further consideration should be given to the reportability of pulmonary NTM disease. Pulmonary NTM disease is more common than tuberculosis in the United States and is of emerging public health concern. Although the direct public health action that would be triggered by a pulmonary NTM disease report is not clear, without surveillance, public health is missing an opportunity to better understand pulmonary NTM disease trends and reasons for its increasing recognition within our population. We believe state health authorities should conduct surveillance for pulmonary NTM, either by mandating reporting of laboratory isolates or by other mechanisms as we have done in Oregon.

In Queensland, Australia, all cases of mycobacterial infection (tuberculosis [TB] and nontuberculous mycobacteria [NTM]) are notifiable under the Queensland Public Health Act (2005). This process originally emerged to avoid NTM confounding with notification of cases of TB, but has facilitated awareness of the increasing incidence and changing epidemiology of NTM. Although initially not a public health priority, the notification process has facilitated research that has led to an appreciation of both public health and environmental health issues associated with these pathogens. When reports of NTM infections were low in frequency, reporting was managed largely by clinicians specializing in TB. However, as reports of NTM isolates surpassed those for TB, the workload associated with clinical reporting exceeded resources. The Communicable Diseases Branch transitioned to digital reporting of laboratory isolates of mycobacteria, thereby enabling weekly and quarterly reporting of data, and generation of more detailed annual reports. The reports now include species and geographic distributions by health service district, allowing identification of clusters requiring further investigation and systematic reviews of different species. With ecological and climate change, the distribution and virulence of these emerging pathogens are evolving. Evidence of transmission of highly virulent and antibiotic-resistant clones of Mycobacterium abscessus among patients with cystic fibrosis internationally heightens the need for timely reporting to public health authorities. Ongoing systematic monitoring by public health authorities will be crucial to our understanding of NTM diseases.

Background Dengue is the most prevalent mosquito-borne disease in the world, with China affected seriously in recent years. 65.8% of dengue cases identified in mainland China since 2005 were reported from the city of Guangzhou. Methods In this study, we described the incidence rate and distribution of dengue cases using data collected form National Notifiable Infectious Disease Reporting Information System data in Guangzhou for 2001 to 2016. All dengue cases were investigated using standardized questionnaire. Results A total of 42,469 dengue cases were reported, with an average annual incidence rate of 20.99 per 100,000 resident population. Over this time period, the incidence rate of indigenous cases increased. Dengue affected areas also expanded sharply geographically from 58.1% of communities affected during 2001–2005 to 96.4% of communities affected in 2011–2016. Overall 95.30% of the overseas imported cases were reported during March and December, while 99.79% of indigenous cases were reported during July and November. All four dengue virus serotypes were identified both in imported cases and indigenous cases. The Aedes albopictus mosquito was the only vector for dengue transmission in the area. Conclusions Guangzhou has become the dengue epicenter in mainland China. Control strategies for dengue should be adjusted to the epidemiological characteristics above and intensive study need to be conducted to explore the factors that driving the rapid increase of dengue.

Objective Indonesia ranks second globally in the number of cases not reported to the National Tuberculosis Control Program, accounting for 11% of the total cases lost worldwide. In 2016, the Ministry of Health has issued Regulation Number 67 on tuberculosis control, which requires mandatory tuberculosis notification. We aimed to assess the prospective acceptability of mandatory tuberculosis notification among solo private practitioners and private primary care clinics in Yogyakarta. Results Our study highlighted critical issues which need to be addressed in ensuring acceptability of mandatory tuberculosis case notification. We found that that private practitioners do not notify tuberculosis cases due to a lack of policy knowledge. Mandatory tuberculosis notification and its potential penalties were also felt as burdensome by private practitioners. There were ethical concerns among the private practitioners in our study about patient’s privacy and patients potentially lost to other healthcare facility. Private practitioners emphasized the need for intervention coherence and cooperation. We also observed pattern variations of these constructs across characteristics of private practitioners.

The German Infection Protection Act requires notifying certain cases of infectious diseases to local health departments (LHD) in Germany. LHDs transmit notifications meeting case definitions to the national health authority, where the proportion of discarded notifications is not known. The proportion of discarded cases at the level of LHDs can be expressed as the positive predictive value (PPV) of the notification system. The PPV can be used to assess the efficiency of the system. We quantified the proportion of discarded notifications to calculate the PPV of the German notification system at the level of LHDs using electronic notification data from Berlin LHDs from 2012. We also analysed reasons for discarding notifications by reviewing notification forms. Data was available from eight LHDs (67%) receiving 10,113 notifications in 2012. Overall PPV was 89% (minimum-maximum = 77-97% across LHDs) and ranging from 30% (Hepatitis B) to 99% (Rotavirus). Of 166 individual investigation forms 84% were on hepatitis B or C cases, most of them discarded because of previously diagnosed chronic disease. LHDs investigate many notifications that do not lead to public health action and useful surveillance data leading to inefficient use of resources. Adaptation of case definitions or the legal framework concerning notifications may increase the efficiency of the notification system and lead to better use of data from notified cases.

Federal, state, and local laws shape the use of health information for public health purposes, such as the mandated collection of data through electronic disease reporting systems. Health professionals can leverage these data to better anticipate and plan for the needs of communities, which is seen in the use of electronic case reporting.