Data for Decision Making

Technical Guidelines on Detection and Control of Epidemic Meningococcal Disease

These Technical Guidelines on the Detection and Control of Meningococcal Disease were prepared by the Data for Decision Making Project of the International Branch / Epidemiology Program Office of the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road Atlanta, Georgia, 30333, USA.

The goal of the Data for Decision Making Project is to increase the use of epidemiologic, economic, demographic, and other data in formulating and implementing public health policies and programs. The purpose of these Guidelines is to assist public health officials in Africa in preparing for and responding to epidemics of meningococcal disease. The Guidelines may also be useful to international, bilateral and non-governmental agencies which assist countries in efforts to control meningococcal disease epidemics.

These Guidelines are meant for district level staff who are responsible for detection and control of epidemics. The Guidelines will help a district health team make their district ready to detect and control an epidemic of meningococcal disease. District team members who attend a training workshop based on these guidelines, and who work on the follow-up projects in their places of work, should be able to:

bulletdetect and investigate an epidemic of meningococcal disease;
bulletarrange for confirmation of a suspected epidemic;
bulletcollect and analyze the data needed to make essential decisions;
bulletinstitute treatment and control measures;
bulletplan for financing the epidemic preparedness strategy; and
bulletmake an epidemic preparedness action plan.

Acknowledgments

The Data for Decision Making Project (Project Number 936-5991) was supported by the United States Agency for International Development under a Participating Agency Service Agreement (PASA Number DPE-5991-X-HC). The following people contributed to the development of the Technical Guidelines and training materials: Bradley A. Perkins, James Zingeser, Richard Greene, Amos Sam-Abbenyi, Anne Schuchat, Karen Wilkins, Anne E. Rodman and Marguerite Pappaioanou.

Additional information may be obtained by contacting the Data for Decision Making Project.

 

Click here to view each chapter of the technical guidelines

 

These materials were designed using an epidemic threshold that was developed and tested for the meningitis belt in West Africa. Other areas should use appropriate thresholds developed for their area. If you would like to use these materials for reference or training in your country, we ask that you agree to the following:

bullet the materials will be used only in the geographic areas for which they were designed, in this case the meningitis belt of West Africa;

AND

bullet any changes in the technical content of the guidelines or training materials either be made in consultation with the CDC subject matter experts or any reference to CDC or DDM be deleted.

By technical content we mean the threshold level, recommendation for treatment or vaccinations etc. You are encouraged to make changes in the materials to make them more specific to your country or area. For instance, clear instructions for whom to report to with contact information would greatly enhance their applicability.

If you agree to these conditions, please click here for further review and downloading. We ask that you complete the user information page of this site to allow us to send you updates and other information automatically. However, this is not obligatory.

The site is set up to allow on-screen review of the materials before downloading. The Technical Guidelines are available in their entirely for viewing on-screen, only sample chapters of the facilitator’s guide and exercise book can be viewed. For any portion of the materials, if you wish to print them for review or reproduction, we suggest you go to the download page rather them printing off the screen. This will retain the formatting and other aspects of the materials.

Before printing the downloaded version, we also suggest that you verify the print setup for best results. In the control panel, visit the printers window. In printers, open up the printer you will be using. If its setup has a place to specify the resolution, make sure that the resolution is number X number where both numbers are the same. Then make sure that the Adobe software is using the Windows driver for the printer.