PLoS Medicine
(Accessed 22 January 2012)
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/browse.action?field=date

Monitoring the Introduction of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines into West Africa: Design and Implementation of a Population-Based Surveillance System
Grant A. Mackenzie, Ian D. Plumb, Sana Sambou, Debasish Saha, Uchendu Uchendu, Bolanle Akinsola, Usman N. Ikumapayi, Ignatius Baldeh, Effua Usuf, Kebba Touray, Momodou Jasseh, Stephen R. C. Howie, Andre Wattiaux, Ellen Lee, Maria Deloria Knoll, Orin S. Levine, Brian M. Greenwood, Richard A. Adegbola, Philip C. Hill Health in Action, published 17 Jan 2012
doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001161

Summary Points
– Routine use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) in developing countries is expected to lead to a significant reduction in childhood deaths. However, PCVs have been associated with replacement disease with non-vaccine serotypes.

– We established a population-based surveillance system to document the direct and indirect impact of PCVs on the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and radiological pneumonia in those aged 2 months and older in The Gambia, and to monitor changes in serotype-specific IPD.

– Here we describe how this surveillance system was set up and is being operated as a partnership between the Medical Research Council Unit and the Gambian Government.

This surveillance system is expected to provide crucial information for immunisation policy and serves as a potential model for those introducing routine PCV vaccination in diverse settings.