Trial of email reporting for the Hospital Based Active Surveillance System in the Pacific

A trial of monthly surveillance reports submittal by email (as opposed to mail/fax) to improve reporting submittal rates and timeliness, was conducted under a Pacific regional surveillance system for acute flaccid paralysis and acute fever and rash that covers 20 Pacific Island and territories. Four Pacific nations agreed to participate in this trial over a six-month period. Results were encouraging, with an overall report submission rate of 54% (within 10 days of months end) for the six-month period. During the same period, only 5% and 23% of the expected reports were received from the other 16 Pacific nations and territories within 30 and 90 days of corresponding months end respectively. The use of email to both regularly remind about the need for country surveillance reporting and for surveillance reports submittal was shown to be effective in improving reporting compliance and timeliness over current paper/faxed based methods. Expansion of email reporting for EPI diseases surveillance to all HBAS reporting sites will provide a valuable platform for overall surveillance in the Pacific.