Through this study, several products have been developed including time series graphs of outbreak and epidemic occurrence by country, maps of the ecologies of the PHEIC diseases and epidemics, the distribution of these diseases by district. Overall, over 1730 outbreaks/epidemics have been reported int he WHO African region in the period 1970 to 2016. Because the outbreak/epidemic thresholds of the different diseases vary and the actual case data is incomplete, it is difficult to compare which diseases are most prevalent or pervasive. However, in terms of frequency of events, cholera, the arboviruses,measles and meningitis rank the highest.
Of the nearly 5250 administrative 2 units analysed in this study, almost each one has reported some form of a disease outbreak in the period 1970-2016, with cholera being the most geographically widespread. The resulting databases are spatially defined and should serve as the basis of subnational inventory of disease outbreaks and epidemics in the region.
