Evaluating the Effectiveness of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in Enhancing Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Response: A Comparative Analysis of Public Health Agencies in Nigeria

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have become the most influential technology in the contemporary world of public health, where it is claimed that it can enhance the validity, timeliness, and responsiveness of the system in responding to disease epidemics. The use of EHRs offers opportunities to enhance surveillance and response to health issues in Nigeria even in a country where system failures in the health information service have been revealed during recurring national health emergencies such as Lassa fever, cholera, and COVID-19. This paper critically reviewed how EHRs are used to increase disease surveillance and outbreak response, with a particular emphasis on the comparative analysis of the key areas of public health agencies and departments that work at the federal, state and national levels, such as Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the Federal Ministry of Health and several state-level institutions. Based on the available academic works, institutional reports, and sources of international evidence, the analysis reveals the extent to which EHRs have enhanced the detection of outbreaks, reporting time, and orchestration of response systems. The results show that although EHRs help enhance disease reporting and resources distribution in a more efficient way, there are still some obstacles of interoperability, limited budget, workforce preparation, and unequal implementation at each state. Comparative lessons teach that public health agencies in Nigeria with well-developed digital systems (possibly within donor-funded platforms) respond far better during outbreaks than agencies that rely on paper-based or fragmented systems. The work adds to the discussion around digital health transformation in low- and middle-income countries because it lists the successes and the shortcomings of EHR-based surveillance systems in Nigeria. It is indicated that greater reinforcement of the interoperability frameworks, sustainable funding, and capacity- building of the workforce is required to maximize the potentials of EHRs in the preparation and surveillance of public health.