Placing Leishmaniasis in the Limelight through the Communicable Disease Surveillance System: An Experience from Sri Lanka.

Gunasekara, SD; Nuwangi, H; Wickramasinghe, ND; Weerakoon, K; Price, Helen P.; Dikomitis, Lisa; Agampodi, Suneth Buddhika

Abstract

Having an effective surveillance system is imperative to take timely and appropriate actions for disease control and prevention. In Sri Lanka, leishmaniasis was declared as a notifiable disease in 2008. This paper presents a comprehensive compilation of the up-to-date documents on the communicable disease and leishmaniasis surveillance in Sri Lanka in order to describe the importance of the existing leishmaniasis surveillance system and to identify gaps that need to be addressed. The documents perused included circulars, reports, manuals, guidelines, ordinances, presentations, and published articles. The disease trends reported were linked to important landmarks in leishmaniasis surveillance. The findings suggest that there is a well-established surveillance system in Sri Lanka having a massive impact on increased case detection, resulting in im-proved attention on leishmaniasis. However, the system is not without its short comings and there is room for further improvements.

Citation

Gunasekara, S., Nuwangi, H., Wickramasinghe, N., Weerakoon, K., Price, H. P., Dikomitis, L., & Agampodi, S. B. (2022). Placing Leishmaniasis in the Limelight through the Communicable Disease Surveillance System: An Experience from Sri Lanka. Pathogens, 11(6), Article 680. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11060680

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 10, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jun 13, 2022
• Publication Date: Jun 13, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: May 30, 2023
• Journal: Pathogens
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 6
• Article Number: 680
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11060680
• Keywords: leishmaniasis; disease surveillance; Sri Lanka
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/423632
• Publisher URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/11/6/680