TY - JOUR AU - Impouma, Benido AU - Roelens, Maroussia AU - Williams, George Sie AU - Flahault, Antoine AU - Codeço, Claudia Torres AU - Moussana, Fleury AU - Farham, Bridget AU - Hamblion, Esther AU - Mboussou, Franck AU - Keiser, Olivia T1 - Measuring Timeliness of Outbreak Response in the World Health Organization African Region, 2017–2019 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2020 VL - 26 IS - 11 SP - 2555 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Large-scale protracted outbreaks can be prevented through early detection, notification, and rapid control. We assessed trends in timeliness of detecting and responding to outbreaks in the African Region reported to the World Health Organization during 2017–2019. We computed the median time to each outbreak milestone and assessed the rates of change over time using univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression analyses. We selected 296 outbreaks from 348 public reported health events and evaluated 184 for time to detection, 232 for time to notification, and 201 for time to end. Time to detection and end decreased over time, whereas time to notification increased. Multiple factors can account for these findings, including scaling up support to member states after the World Health Organization established its Health Emergencies Programme and support given to countries from donors and partners to strengthen their core capacities for meeting International Health Regulations. KW - communicable diseases KW - disease outbreaks KW - foodborne diseases KW - Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response strategy KW - internally-displaced populations KW - outbreak response KW - refugee populations KW - time to control KW - time to detection KW - time to notification KW - vaccine-preventable diseases KW - vector-borne diseases KW - waterborne diseases KW - WHO African Region KW - WHO Health Emergencies Programme KW - World Health Organization DO - 10.3201/eid2611.191766 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/11/19-1766_article ER - End of Reference