Formal and informal surveillance systems: how to build links

Abstract

Within the framework of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) surveillance in Vietnam, interviews were carried out with poultry farmers and local animal health operators in two municipalities of the Red River delta with a view to documenting the circulation of health information concerning poultry (content of the information; method, scope and speed of circulation; actors involved; actions triggered as a result of the information received; economic and social incentives for disseminating or withholding information). The main results show that (i) active informal surveillance networks exist, (ii) the alert levels vary and the measures applied by the poultry farmers are myriad and often far-removed from the official recommendations, and (iii) the municipal veterinarian is at the interface between the formal and the informal surveillance systems. The conclusions emphasize the need for the authorities to separate distinctly surveillance and control activities, and to regionalize control strategies, taking into account epidemiological specificities and social dynamics at local level.