Disease Surveillance, Outbreak Investigation & Response Training Workshop/ Seminar

Course overview

The Disease Surveillance, Outbreak Investigation & Response Training Workshop develops practical skills in detecting, investigating and responding to disease outbreaks and public health emergencies. Participants learn surveillance reporting, case definition development, active case finding, line-list management, contact tracing, epidemic curve analysis and epidemiological risk assessment. The course also covers laboratory coordination, infection prevention and control, community engagement, risk communication and response monitoring. Designed for public health professionals, disease surveillance officers, epidemiologists and outbreak response teams, the workshop strengthens early detection, coordinated response and evidence-based decision-making to support disease prevention and population health protection.

Course objectives

• Explain the principles and operational requirements of effective disease surveillance systems. Identify, verify and report suspected outbreaks using established surveillance and notification procedures. Develop standard case definitions and conduct active case finding, contact tracing and line-list management. Analyse surveillance data to identify disease trends, unusual events and potential outbreak signals. Conduct systematic outbreak investigations using descriptive and analytical epidemiological methods. Develop risk assessments and recommend appropriate public health control measures. Coordinate surveillance, laboratory, clinical, environmental health and community response activities.
• Prepare outbreak investigation reports, risk communication materials and response monitoring plans.
• Design adaptation strategies, resilience plans, and climate-responsive project interventions.
• Establish climate resilience indicators, monitoring frameworks, and reporting systems to evaluate adaptation effectiveness and support investment decisions.
• Identify climate hazards and assess exposure, sensitivity, vulnerability, and adaptive capacity across different sectors.
• Apply effective financial controls and accountability procedures covering cash, bank accounts, procurement, payroll, assets, expenditure approvals, segregation of duties and supporting documentation.

Who should attend

Course content

• Module 1: Foundations of Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Response Principles of disease surveillance, objectives and functions of surveillance, routine surveillance systems, public health event detection, outbreak definitions, epidemic and pandemic conc
• Module 2: Surveillance Systems, Reporting and Early Warning Indicator-based surveillance, event-based surveillance, syndromic surveillance, laboratory-supported surveillance, community-based surveillance, sentinel surveillance, case notification procedure
• Module 3: Case Definitions, Case Finding and Line-List Management Suspected, probable and confirmed case classifications, developing standard case definitions, person-place-time characteristics, active and passive case finding, facility and community case
• Module 4: Outbreak Detection, Verification and Initial Assessment Recognising unusual disease patterns, interpreting surveillance alerts, verifying reported events, confirming whether observed increases exceed expected levels, reviewing clinical and labor
• Module 5: Outbreak Investigation Procedures Preparing for field investigations, establishing investigation objectives, reviewing background information, confirming diagnoses with appropriate laboratory and clinical support, defining cases, systematic case
• Module 6: Epidemiological Analysis and Outbreak Data Interpretation Person-place-time analysis, epidemic curves, attack rates, incidence and prevalence, case fatality rates, exposure assessment, descriptive statistics, geographic distribution, comparing o
• Module 7: Contact Tracing and Transmission Control Contact identification and classification, exposure assessment, contact registers, follow-up procedures, monitoring exposed individuals, referral and escalation pathways, isolation and quarantine principl
• Module 8: Laboratory Coordination and Diagnostic Surveillance Clinical specimen collection principles, specimen packaging and transport, laboratory referral procedures, diagnostic testing, interpretation of laboratory results, sensitivity and specificity,
• Module 9: Public Health Risk Assessment and Prioritisation Assessing likelihood and potential impact, severity and transmissibility, population vulnerability, geographic spread, exposure settings, healthcare system capacity, uncertainty assessment, priori
• Module 10: Outbreak Prevention, Control and Emergency Response Selecting control measures based on transmission pathways, infection prevention and control, vaccination and prophylaxis where indicated, safe water and sanitation interventions, food safety m
• Module 11: Priority Disease Events and One Health Response Investigation of diarrhoeal disease and foodborne outbreaks, respiratory disease events, vaccine-preventable diseases, vector-borne diseases, zoonotic infections, healthcare-associated infections
• Module 12: Community Engagement and Public Health Risk Communication Communicating outbreak risks, developing public health messages, community engagement strategies, working with local leaders, addressing rumours and misinformation, communicating uncerta
• Module 13: Surveillance Data Management, Dashboards and Digital Tools Electronic surveillance reporting, data validation and cleaning, maintaining case registers and line lists, data quality checks, outbreak trend charts, epidemic curve development, dashb
• Module 14: Outbreak Coordination, Reporting and Response Evaluation Incident management principles, multidisciplinary coordination, roles and responsibilities, situation reports, investigation report structure, response action trackers, coordination meeti
• Module 15: Simulation Exercise and Capstone Outbreak Investigation Outbreak scenario briefing, alert verification, case definition development, case line-list preparation, epidemic curve interpretation, field investigation planning, exposure and risk fact

General notes

• Practical Exercises and Expected Outputs Outbreak alert verification exercise — alert assessment and notification checklist, case definition exercise — standard case definition and classification guide, case finding exercise — completed investigation forms, line-list management exercise — validated outbreak line list, epidemic curve exercise — outbreak trend chart and interpretation, epidemiological analysis exercise — attack rates and measures of association, contact tracing exercise — contact register and follow-up plan, laboratory coordination exercise — specimen referral and tracking workflow, risk assessment exercise — documented risk assessment matrix, response planning exercise — outbreak control action plan, risk communication exercise — public health messaging brief, surveillance evaluation exercise — surveillance performance assessment, dashboard exercise — outbreak monitoring dashboard, simulation exercise — incident coordination and situation report, capstone project — complete outbreak investigation report with findings and recommendations.
• Outbreak Investigation Training, Disease Surveillance Workshop, Public Health Emergency Response, Field Epidemiology Training, Contact Tracing Training, Outbreak Response Planning, Epidemiological Surveillance, Infectious Disease Control, Public Health Risk Assessment, Disease Monitoring and Reporting.
• Recommended Software and Tools - Excel: Case line lists, outbreak calculations, data validation and preliminary analysis. - DHIS2: Routine health information reporting and surveillance workflows where adopted. - KoboToolbox: Digital field data collection and outbreak investigation forms. - Power BI: Surveillance dashboards, trend analysis and situation reporting. - QGIS: Mapping disease cases, outbreak locations and geographic risk patterns. - SPSS, Stata or R: Statistical analysis and epidemiological investigation. - GIS-enabled mobile devices: Field mapping and location recording where appropriate.

Frequently asked questions

Schedule & fees