Guidance for Strengthening Non-Communicable Diseases, Injuries and Mental Health Surveillance Systems

Executive summary

Non-communicable diseases, injuries, and mental health conditions (NCDI/MH) are substantial diseases and economic threats across African Union (AU) Member States (MS). The conditions are estimated to disable and prematurely end millions of lives across Africa each year. They constitute a serious impediment to achieving the vision of the Agenda 2063 of building an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful Africa driven by its citizens.
The existing data and estimates leave little doubt about the general trajectory of an increasing disease and mortality burden from NCDI/MH on the continent over
the next decades. Despite these predictions, recently collected population-based data for NCDI/MH and their risk factors and determinants remain scarce in many AU MS.
This guidance document for Member States was developed in evidence-based and consultative processes. It aims to support AU MS to progressively strengthen their NCDI/MH surveillance systems in line with national and continental strategies. Furthermore, this document is guided by and seeks to contribute to the realization of the Agenda 2063, the Africa Health Strategy 2016-2030), and Africa’s New Public Health Order.
Most specifically, this guidance document supports the implementation of the Africa CDC Non-Communicable Diseases, Injuries Prevention and Control and Mental Health Promotion Strategy 2022-26. The guidance also complements existing technical surveillance documents and links to global and regional monitoring frameworks.
This document concerns the surveillance of i) non-communicable diseases, injuries, and mental health conditions, ii) their risk factors and determinants, and iii) the national response to these threats. It also informs the integration of NCDI/MH indicators into the national Health information system (HIS) in order to strengthen the surveillance systems to support evidence-based decision-making for NCDI/MH prevention and control in AU MS. The target audiences for this document include ministries of health (MoH) and National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs) as well as additional ministries and national public institutions with mandates related to NCDI/MH surveillance.
This document has three core sections: Recommendations, Implementation support tools and outlook; Definitions and a complementary annex – a repository of practical documents. The recommendations to Member States are structured under 4 major headings:
A. Indicators, data sources and data types,
B. Surveillance system capacities,
C. Surveillance integration with existing systems, and
D. Data use. A summary of the key recommendations is highlighted in text box below.