BACKGROUND
Accurate and timely infectious disease surveillance is pivotal for effective public health responses. In this study, we assessed the user perceptions of three disease surveillance tools used in Côte d'Ivoire: MAGPI, DHIS2 and SORMAS; the latter was implemented in 2021 within a pilot scheme.
OBJECTIVE
Understanding views and experiences of users is crucial for informing policy decisions and ensuring the seamless functioning of surveillance systems, and is the objective of this study.
METHODS
We conducted interviews and an online survey distributed to users of the three surveillance tools. The survey assessed users' views of the surveillance tools' usefulness, ease of use, feelings towards the tool, conditions that may influence the use, as well as other characteristics. The descriptively analysis compared responses from SORMAS, MAGPI, and DHIS2 users, providing a comprehensive evaluation of their experiences.
RESULTS
Among the 159 respondents who actively use one of the systems, MAGPI was found to be the most widely used surveillance tool among respondents (79.9%), followed by DHIS2 (67.9%), and SORMAS (15.7%). In terms of users’ perceptions, SORMAS, despite its limited implementation, emerged as a tools which allows for data analysis and had the most comprehensive set of functionalities. DHIS2 was appreciated for its frequency of report provision, although users reported occasional IT system failures. MAGPI was recognized for its ease of use but was reported to lack certain functionalities offered by the other surveillance systems.
CONCLUSIONS
This study offers valuable insights into the perceptions of disease surveillance tools users in Côte d'Ivoire. While all systems were positively regarded, each exhibited strengths and weaknesses addressing different needs and functionalities. Policymakers and health officials can use these findings to enhance existing tools or consider a unified approach for infectious diseases surveillance systems. Understanding users' perspectives allows them to optimize the choice of surveillance tools, ultimately strengthening public health responses in Côte d'Ivoire and potentially serving as a model for other countries facing similar decisions in their healthcare systems.