344Impact of a disease surveillance training program on knowledge of health workers in South-western Nigeria

Background Poor knowledge of frontline health workers on integrated disease surveillance and response (IDSR) is a cause of poor surveillance reporting performance in Nigeria. To improve the knowledge of frontline health workers, they are trained annually, together with the surveillance focal persons, on IDSR. This study determined the immediate impact of one of such trainings on IDSR knowledge of the trainees. Methods A quasi experimental study, involving a pre- and post-test questionnaire survey, was conducted among 205 surveillance training participants in Ondo State, Nigeria. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics at 5% statistical level of significance. Results Mean age was 39.4 ± 9.1 years, 77.6% were females and 51.7% were clinicians. Although most (89.3%) were aware of IDSR, only 48.3 % and 43.9% had been involved in IDSR implementation and training respectively. Overall, the mean pre-test IDSR knowledge score was 12.43. This increased significantly to 18.63 in the post-test (p