Background: Global surveillance systems are crucial for early detection, assessment and response to public health threats. A new epidemic observatory, Epi-watch is being developed to monitor and provide critical analysis of global outbreaks and epidemics of public health significance.
Aim: To inform the development of Epi-watch, we sought to understand the global outbreak surveillance needs of stakeholders involved in epidemic response and surveillance in the Asia-Pacific region.
Methods: We designed an online semi-structured stakeholder questionnaire. Purposive and snowball sampling methods were used to identify 128 participants who use epidemic intelligence and outbreak alert services in their work in government and non-government organisations in selected countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Results: All respondents (N=91) agreed that it was important to remain up to date with global outbreaks. The main reason for following outbreak news was as an early warning for serious epidemics (83/91; 91%). Mainstream media and specialist internet sources such as WHO (n=54/91; 59%), ProMED-mail (n=45/91; 49%) and CDC (n=31/91; 34%) were the most common sources for global outbreak news, while use of rapid intelligence services such as HealthMap were less common (n=9/91; 10%). Only 51% (46/91) of respondents thought their sources of outbreak news were timely and sufficient for their needs. Not enough critical appraisal (38/91; 42%) and lack of time to read/watch/listen to information (36/91; 40%) were reported as limitations of outbreak sources.
Conclusion: Users identified a need for more timely and reliable epidemic intelligence. Better methods to deliver rapid epidemic intelligence to end-users should be explored.