Integration of surveillance of priority zoonotic diseases into the existing polio eradication program in Ethiopia: processes, opportunities, successes, and challenges.

Zoonoses are a major public health concern. The Ethiopia CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP) integrated active surveillance of the Priority Zoonotic Diseases (PZDs) using the existing polio infrastructure. The purpose of this review was to explore the processes, opportunities, successes and challenges of the integration of PZDs surveillance and response into the polio program. It document reviews of reports, minutes, desk review of CGPP secretariat staff and interview of field-level coordinators. The project started with development of integrated plan of Polio and Global Health Security (GHS) project. The project team assembled technical experts from the CGPP Secretariat and partner to develop a revised and harmonized training guide and manual for the frontline community volunteers. The project trained 168 government surveillance staff from both human and livestock health sectors using a one health approach training of trainers. In 2020, the trained professionals further trained 5,481 community members, 2,808 frontline human health workers, and 1,589 animal health assistants (AHAs). Following the training, the project launched field activities and monitoring. In 2021, the project volunteers reported 263 PZDs alerts through the Open Data Kit system. In addition, 70 one health task force teams were established at Woreda, zonal and regional levels. The project community volunteers visited 683,479 households and reaching 1,765,584 people in financial year (FY) 2021 alone. Major opportunities for integration included budget integration, the existence of trained community surveillance volunteers, established linkages between frontline workers and community volunteers, and the existence of mapped cross-border activities. On the other hand, problem of delayed in an integrated monitoring mechanism was the challenge for the implementation of one health approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]