African rotavirus surveillance network: a brief overview.

With the imminent availability of new and prospective rotavirus vaccines, reliable information on burden of rotavirus diseases in the different African countries was required to enable evidence-based decision making regarding introduction of rotavirus vaccines. World Health Organization has been supporting Member States since 2006 to establish sentinel surveillance for rotavirus diarrhea in children <5 years of age using standardized guidelines. African countries are using this platform to generate high quality country specific data to document and demonstrate the burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis. The data gathered are being used by policy makers to guide decisions on appropriate intervention strategies for diarrhea control including the value and timing of the introduction of new rotavirus vaccines in the national immunization programs.