Completeness of suspected measles reporting in a southern district of Nigeria
Received 4 May 2009; received in revised form 22 October 2009; accepted 17 November 2009. published online 11 January 2010.
Summary
Objective
To determine the completeness of reporting of suspected measles cases to a local health authority in southern Nigeria.
Study design
Retrospective.
Methods
Suspected measles cases were identified in all 23 health facilities in Aniocha South Local Government Area (LGA) of Delta State, Southern Nigeria by retrospective review of the health facilities' registers and the LGA surveillance records between 1 January 2007 and 30 June 2008. A capture–recapture method was used to obtain an estimate of the total number of measles cases expected for the study area within the study period. The completeness of reporting was calculated as a ratio of the number of measles cases reported to the LGA by hospitals to the number of cases estimated by the capture–recapture method.
Results
An estimate of 87 measles cases was obtained with the capture–recapture method. The overall completeness of reporting was 11.5% (95% confidence interval 8.1–19.6%).
Conclusion
The number of suspected measles cases seems to have been grossly under-reported in this area.
ABSTRACT