By implementing IDSR, which is fully aligned with the National Action Plan for Health Security, the country has developed an electronic IDSR platform to record and timeously report events and disease outbreaks. As such, four provinces – KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and the Free State – are implementing IDSR in 27 out of 52 districts. Mortality surveillance is being implemented in Gauteng and Mpumalanga across all public hospitals and forensic pathology services, with more than 13 000 deaths recorded to date. This progress put South Africa in an advantageous position to fast-track the integration of surveillance systems across the One Health sectors, as electronic systems already exist. To date, the One Health surveillance technical working group has advanced with integration efforts, such that the Department of Health convened a two-day One Health Surveillance Systems Data Mapping and Integration Workshop on 24 and 25 November 2025 in Pretoria. The workshop brought together about 50 delegates from 18 organisations spanning government departments, public entities, science councils, weather services, academia and international organisations. Its purpose was to map existing data sources and surveillance systems across human, animal and environmental sectors, and identify climate-health indicators for integration into national IDSR surveillance systems. The workshop confirmed that surveillance systems remain fragmented within each sector and across One Health sectors. Where linkages exist, they are largely informal and manual in nature. The participants produced a draft set of climate-health indicators developed across nine thematic areas; these included vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, waterborne diseases, heat and health, and antimicrobial resistance. It was decided that the Department of Health would coordinate follow-up expert sessions with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and the Environment to finalise the indicator set and complete the surveillance system mapping in preparation for integration efforts. The foundations for integrated One Health surveillance in South Africa are in place, and the process is highly possible. What is now required is sustained investment and formalised cross-sectoral partnerships to turn fragmented systems into coordinated, integrated, functional surveillance systems that can detect public health threats early, report them promptly and equip us with the capacity to respond rapidly. 18
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTI0MzQ=