Survey of underreporting of notifiable communicable diseases and network direct reporting quality in medical facilities in Ganzhou district in Zhangye, Gansu province, 2009

Objective To understand the actual incidence of notifiable diseases and provide evidence for the disease control and prevention. Methods The underreporting survey was conducted in 150 medical facilities by stratified sampling. Results Totally 541cases of 14 class B and C communicable diseases from January to October in 2009 were surveyed. The total underreporting rate was 13.68%, late reporting rate was 3.64%, completeness rate of reporting card was 90.02%, accurate rate was 94.46% and concordance rate was 90.91%. The underreporting rate of class C communicable diseases was higher than class B communicable diseases, the difference was without statistical significance. No underreporting was found for hepatitis A,2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1), measles and echinococcosis. The underreporting rates of unspecified hepatitis, rubella, hepatitis C, infectious diarrhea, bacillary dysentery and tuberculosis were high. The late reporting rate of rubella was highest. The quality of notifiable diseases reporting of township health centers was better than other medical facilities, especially the village health clinics. The underreporting and late reporting degrees varied by medical facilities at different level, and most underreporting was made by clinical doctors. Conclusion The quality of notifiable communicable diseases reporting in Ganzhou district in 2009 was obviously improved, which was a little higher than the average national level. Actual carrying out regulations and measures and strengthening the supervisor and training would be fundamental to increase the quality of notifiable communicable diseases reporting.