Field Guidelines for Surveillance of Measles, Rubella and Congenital Rubella Syndrome

These field guidelines provide countries with a technical resource to use in developing comprehensive standard operating procedures for measles, rubella and congenital rubella syndrome surveillance. The largest part of these guidelines is devoted to developing a surveillance system for cases of measles, rubella and congenital rubella syndrome, including case investigation, outbreak response, laboratory procedures for measles and rubella testing and surveillance monitoring and feedback. This publication is primarily intended for use by surveillance and national immunization managers and their staff, but many other health professionals and technical staff working in surveillance, immunization and laboratories at the country level will find it useful in improving measles, rubella and congenital rubella syndrome surveillance. It can be used at various levels of the health care system and countries can adapt the guidelines according to their local situations.