Performance of Kala-Azar Surveillance in Gaffargaon Subdistrict of Mymensingh, Bangladesh

INTRODUCTION: Elimination of kala-azar is planned for South Asia requiring good surveillance along with other strategies. We assessed surveillance in Gaffargaon upazila (a subdistrict of 13 unions) of Mymensingh district, Bangladesh highly endemic for kala-azar. METHODS: In 4703 randomly sampled households, within nine randomly sampled villages, drawn from three randomly sampled unions, we actively searched for kala-azar cases that had occurred between January 2010 and December 2011. We then searched for medical records of these cases in the patient registers of Gaffargaon upazila health complex (UHC). We investigated factors associated with the medical recording by interviewing the cases and their families. We also did a general observation of UHC recording systems and interviewed health staff responsible for the monthly reports…