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ABOUT NETSPEAR |
netSPEAR is a pneumococcal and Hib disease surveillance network - hosted by the KEMRI / Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Nairobi, Kenya and funded by GAVI's PneumoADIP - currently operating in thirteen hospitals throughout Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. It works closely in coordination with the WHO's African Regional Office and its Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis network (WHO/PBMs). netSPEAR is funded from GAVI’s Pneumo-ADIP mainly and GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals supporting the yearly network conference.
netSPEAR aims to: -
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Provide a focal point within the East African Region for collating and sharing data on S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae that is already being collected at e.g. research units, private hospitals and major clinical institutions with routine microbiological services.
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Expand the capacity for effective, routine surveillance by developing clinical case definitions that trigger sample collection and laboratory procedures that result in bacterial isolation within government funded hospitals.
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Regularly update available data and disseminate findings to regional network partners including surveillance sites, Ministries of Health, multilateral organizations and donors who support EPI vaccines.
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Apply clinical, epidemiological and microbiological research findings from academic centers in the region to extrapolate surveillance findings to regional incidence estimates of Pneumococcal disease burden.
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Contribute to the development of surveillance capacity in the Public Health system in this region.
Countries and number of sites: The network is hospital based and focuses on children aged 2 months to 59 months with suspected meningitis in all sites by carrying out CSF cultures. A total of 4 sites are currently also supported to carry out blood culture for children aged 2 months and 59 months with Sepsis, Severe pneumonia and Very Severe Pneumonia based on standard cases definitions. netSPEAR surveillance is hospital based in a total of 13 hospitals with and estimated 140,000 paediatrics admission yearly with an estimate of over 15 thousand lumbar punctures in all hospitals and over 10 thousand blood cultures in 4 hospitals carrying out blood cultures and an estimated over 1000 isolates per year.Currently operating in a total of 13 hospitals throughout Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Working closely in coordination with WHO’s African regional Office and its Paediatrics Bacterial Meningitis network as well as in consultation with all other stakeholders among them Ministry of Health, EPI, Integrated Diseases surveillance and Response (IDSR). Click to view sites page.
