Zimbabwe to set up CRS sentinel surveillance site
Harare, 27 Sept. 2011 -- Zimbabwe will become the first country in the sub-region to set up a congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) sentinel surveillance site. The site will be at Harare Children's Hospital. The sentinel site will help in documenting the burden of the disease in Zimbabwe and also provide evidence for future control actions. Presently there is no reliable information of the disease burden in Zimbabwe which makes the planning of appropriate interventions difficult.
To this end, a one day training meeting to sensitise clinicians from Harare Children's Hospital, Ministry of Health and Child Welfare surveillance and EPI teams, and the national measles laboratory was held at WHO. In addition, WHO will provide a computer for the sentinel site to capture case based and laboratory data.