Overcoming 7-1-7’s top bottleneck to outbreak detection: Low clinical suspicion

When infectious diseases go unrecognized in clinical settings, outbreaks can spiral out of control before they’re even detected. 7-1-7 data from 18 countries reveals that low clinical suspicion is the top bottleneck to outbreak detection, responsible for delaying detection in nearly one in three outbreaks. Potential cases aren’t being recognized or reported quickly enough, allowing diseases to spread silently before public health systems can respond.

On Tuesday, November 25, we will hear how improving clinical suspicion can be the biggest enabler of timely detection – and a game changer for response times. We’ll introduce a promising initiative led by Resolve to Save Lives and partners to build Epidemic-Ready Primary Health Care. ERPHC aims to strengthen health facilities’ capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to health threats. We will share the key drivers of low clinical suspicion and what simple, practical strategies are working in four pilot countries: Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.

With this webinar, participants will:

– Understand the scale and impact of low clinical suspicion as a bottleneck to outbreak detection based on multi-country 7-1-7 data
– Identify root causes of low clinical suspicion in health care settings
– Understand ERPHC’s approach to strengthening epidemic preparedness at the health facility level
– Learn practical strategies to assess and improve clinical suspicion in their own health systems, including testing approaches and simple interventions

Featured speaker: Dr. Stacey Mearns, Director of Primary Health Care, Resolve to Save Lives

Live interpretation will be available in French and Spanish.