USAID IDDS: Disease Detection and Surveillance Across Sectors

With a population of over 270 million people across 17,500 islands, Indonesia faces challenges for disease detection and surveillance. Its tropical climate, high population mobility, and susceptibility to natural disasters compound these challenges.

Detecting priority pathogens and antimicrobial resistance through improved surveillance and diagnostic networks is critical to preventing, detecting, and responding to priority zoonotic diseases, such as bird flu, anthrax, and rabies. Through a sustainable One Health systems strengthening approach that includes an early warning system, infectious diseases can be stopped in their tracks long before they become epidemics.

Infectious Disease Detection and Surveillance (IDDS)

Starting with a strong focus on surveillance, IDDS provides technical support and participates in relevant One Health forums to bolster Indonesia’s self-reliance and multi-sectoral capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to priority zoonotic diseases, including bird flu and rabies. This effort helps prepare the Government of Indonesia for outbreaks and enhance early warning systems for infectious diseases. One such information system is the Zoonoses and Emerging Infectious Diseases Information System (SIZE, or Sistem Informasi Zoonosis dan Emerging Infectious Diseases in Indonesian), a sustainable global model for One Health that integrates human, livestock, and wildlife data from existing government surveillance systems across ministries and sectors.

In Indonesia, IDDS works to reduce health threats posed by emerging infectious diseases with animal origin. The activity’s objectives are to: improve disease detection through an integrated diagnostic network system; improve the quality of real-time surveillance systems for pathogens of greatest public health concern; and generate evidence-based guidance and innovative solutions to strengthen in-country diagnostic networks and surveillance systems.

Results

To date, IDDS has:

Helped develop and launch the 2022 Coordinating Minister Regulation (PERMENKO PMK) on the Prevention and Control of Zoonoses and emerging infectious diseases (EIDs);
Supported the One Health side meeting as part of Indonesia’s 2022 presidency of the G20, to advance detection and surveillance of EIDs;
Supported sustainable cross-sectoral coordination on zoonoses and EIDs through the One Health Laboratory Network, Integrated Surveillance, and SIZE working groups;
Improved the capacity of three laboratory networks — public health labs, animal health labs, and university health labs;
Provided coordination support for the SIZE system and development of a sustainable regulatory strategy, resulting in Indonesia migrating SIZE to its National Data Center and piloting SIZE for leptospirosis and rabies cross-sectoral surveillance at the district level;
Supported institutionalization of the One Health Cross-sectoral Coordination Working Group at the district level to prevent and control leptospirosis in humans, animals, and the environment.