California Border Region ILI Surveillance and Influenza Education in Migrant Farmworker Populations

To address the gaps in influenza surveillance among the migrant farm worker populations we developed an expansion to the existing influenza surveillance and included education efforts in San Diego and Imperial Counties, in southern California. Specifically, this project: 1) Enhanced influenza-like-illness surveillance to include migrant farm workers in San Diego and Imperial Counties; 2) Estimated the burden of influenza-like-illness among migrant farm workers in CA Border Counties; 3) Conducted outreach to farm worker populations through print materials and face to face education.

Project staff developed the surveillance protocol using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) influenza-like-Illness definition. The two participating clinics each formed teams of promotores (Community Health Workers) and clinic staff to actively visit migrant farmworker homes, apartments, camps, and other farmworker congregation sites. Surveillance activities were complemented with health outreach.

In total, 19,815 individuals were screened for ILI symptoms during 10 weeks. Both clinics' surveillance followed a similar trend, though one clinic consistantly reported higher rates. Reported rates were between 0.2 - 3.9 percent. At both sites the majority of individuals reported that they had not received an influenza vaccine this season (81% & 96%) and did not have health insurance (81% & 96%). In addition to the surveillance activities, 11,340 face-to-face promotora encounters were recorded during the weeks of the project.