National Sample Vital Registration System: A sustainable platform for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases surveillance in low and middle-income countries

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic raises the critical need for effective national surveillance systems, capable of detecting the onset of outbreaks rapidly but also sustainable platforms for mortality and cause of death (CoD) surveillance that allow rapid data collection to address questions during and after epidemics or crises. These pre-, during, and post-outbreak functions are necessary for effective responses. They are particularly needed in resource-constrained countries where health systems are limited. Low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) struggle to establish exhaustive surveillance platforms at community level for national response in real time. Systems such as Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response are mostly limited to health facilities. Beside, they do not generate standard mortality and CoD indicators over time. Many organizations, including the World Health Organization, react to the COVID-19 by developing tools to support countries with rapid mortality surveillance strategies. However, a significant challenge is the crucial lack of comparable historical data allowing an assessment of excess mortality due to the COVID-19 [1,2]. Well-designed sample vital registration systems (SVRS) offer rapid, and sustainable platforms for achieving the need for real-time data and the ability to nest data collection to respond to rising questions [3].