THE BURDEN OF ARIs IN CRISIS AFFECTED POPULATIONS

Sunday, 17th of June 2012

• THE BURDEN OF ARIs IN CRISIS AFFECTED POPULATIONS

Conclusions below; abstract and full text are at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2829474/?tool=pubmed

Conclusions

Our review suggests that the burden of ARI, already very large in stable settings, increases considerably in crises. This pattern appears consistent across different types of crisis, including natural disasters. In the latter, the risk of infectious disease epidemics is usually considered to be low [69], but this may lead to neglect of common conditions such as ARI.

ARIs are less noticeable than epidemic-prone diseases in crises, and any abnormal increases are difficult to detect against a background of consultations for fever and rapidly evolving health facility utilisation rates. This reflects in part a perception by humanitarian workers, mostly based on models of refugee camp health care developed in the 1980s, that infectious disease threats in crises are essentially from easily recognisable and dramatic epidemics of cholera, measles or meningitis Large epidemics of some ARI pathogens may nonetheless occur, and in general ARI pathogens should be considered epidemic-prone in crises, though diagnostics to confirm these epidemics may not be available. The true impact of ARIs is a function of both incidence and case-fatality. There are no acceptable targets for ARI CFR, unlike for cholera or severe malnutrition, making it difficult to monitor the quality of case management on the basis of accepted standards. Further contributing to ARIs' neglect in crisis settings, surveillance systems set up in emergencies generally focus on early detection of visible epidemic-prone diseases. While data on ARIs are often collected, in our experience they are seldom used to inform action.

Our findings of high burden in older children and adults are highly relevant for vaccination strategies, particularly with pneumococcal, Hib, measles and pertussis vaccines. Older children are rarely included in target age groups for these vaccines, but our findings suggest that they perhaps should be, at least in crisis situations.

As advocated for stable settings [70], better characterisation of the epidemiology and aetiology of ARI and particularly pneumonia in crisis-affected settings is critical to rationalise disease priorities, gauge the potential impact of improved diagnostics and treatment, optimise treatment algorithms, and make the best use of available and new vaccines against Hib, pneumococcus, measles and pertussis. Future studies should focus on ALRI; implement clear and standardised case definitions (e.g. clinical versus radiological pneumonia); age-stratify data (with finer strata among children below 5 y so as to better characterise age distribution and optimise vaccine target groups accordingly); and describe the morbidity and mortality burden at the population level rather than based on health-facility data alone. The latter will require focussed community surveillance studies, accompanied by verbal autopsies. Since certain pathogens and serotypes responsible for ARI may be particularly favoured by risk factors such as overcrowding or acute malnutrition, appropriately resourced aetiological studies should also be implemented in a selection of sites.

Addressing ARI in crises is key to achieving global child survival targets and Millennium Development Goals. Accordingly, initiatives such as the WHO and UNICEF-led Global Action Plan for Pneumonia prevention and control (GAPP) need to extend their reach to humanitarian relief settings. Agencies working in crisis settings should invest greater resources in ARI prevention and control, and explicitly consider ARI and pneumonia a top priority across crisis phases and scenarios. Similarly, ARI prevention and treatment should become part of the standard package of minimum public health interventions in crises.