Surveillance

An efficient surveillance system to screen, monitor and evaluate newborns with suspected sepsis.

Led by Health Research Operations Kenya Limited (HROK), clinical and microbiological surveillance activities will be carried out across 7 neonatal units in 5 sub-Saharan African countries.

What is surveillance and why is it needed?

  • Surveillance in healthcare refers to the systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health data to monitor disease trends, detect outbreaks and guide clinical and public health interventions.
  • When used to monitor hospital-acquired infections and antimicrobial resistance, surveillance can help protect vulnerable patients, especially newborns, from antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can cause serious infections like sepsis, a major cause of newborn deaths and long-term impairment worldwide.
  • Surveillance can help improve outcomes in neonatal units by:
  • Tracking the incidence of sepsis across hospitals and regions
  • Identifying the most common pathogens responsible for infections
  • Monitoring antibiotic resistance patterns
  • Detecting outbreaks early, allowing for rapid response and containment.
  • For these reasons, SNIP-AFRICA is integrating surveillance into its clinical research activities as a key strategy to improve the treatment of neonatal sepsis and reduce newborn mortality in the African region.

What is SNIP-AFRICA doing?

SNIP-AFRICA is building the methods and expertise needed to conduct comprehensive surveillance of: 

  • Neonatal bloodstream infections (sepsis)
  • Pathogens and how they respond to antibiotics
  • Burden and trends of antimicrobial resistance
  • Colonisation prevalence (i.e. presence of bacteria potentally causing infections)
  • Antibiotic prescribing practices in neonatal units.

The aim is to generate critical insights into the infection landscape within each neonatal unit, enabling targeted interventions, improved clinical decision-making, and ultimately better health outcomes for newborns.

Who participates?

Surveillance activities will be conducted in 7 hospitals in 5 sub-Saharan African countries, some of which are also participating in the NeoSep1 clinical trial. 

  1. Komfo Anokye Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana
  2. Kilifi County Hospital, Kilifi, Kenya
  3. Mbagathi Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya
  4. Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital, Mombasa, Kenya
  5. Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
  6. Kawempe National Referral Hospital, Kampala, Uganda
  7. St. Francis Referral Hospital, Mlabani, Tanzania

Severe Neonatal Infection Adaptive Platform Trials in Africa

The SNIP-AFRICA project (101103201) is supported by the Global Health EDCTP3 and its members. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of Global Health EDCTP3 nor its members. Neither of the parties can be held responsible for them.

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