Surveillance involves the ongoing collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data to monitor disease trends and the effectiveness of health programs. The goals are to detect health problems and outbreaks early so services can respond effectively. A surveillance system should select essential indicators based on needs and limit data collection to the most practical information. Alternative methods like community-based surveillance and surveys may be needed to gather data outside existing facilities. Timely analysis and reporting of surveillance data is important so information can be used and programs improved. Outbreaks should also be promptly investigated when diseases with epidemic potential are detected.
Surveillance involves the ongoing collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data to monitor disease trends and the effectiveness of health programs. The goals are to detect health problems and outbreaks early so services can respond effectively. A surveillance system should select essential indicators based on needs and limit data collection to the most practical information. Alternative methods like community-based surveillance and surveys may be needed to gather data outside existing facilities. Timely analysis and reporting of surveillance data is important so information can be used and programs improved. Outbreaks should also be promptly investigated when diseases with epidemic potential are detected.
Surveillance involves the ongoing collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data to monitor disease trends and the effectiveness of health programs. The goals are to detect health problems and outbreaks early so services can respond effectively. A surveillance system should select essential indicators based on needs and limit data collection to the most practical information. Alternative methods like community-based surveillance and surveys may be needed to gather data outside existing facilities. Timely analysis and reporting of surveillance data is important so information can be used and programs improved. Outbreaks should also be promptly investigated when diseases with epidemic potential are detected.
systematic collection analysis and interpretation of health data, linked with giving feedback to people at all levels of the data collection system as well as applying the information to disease prevention and control measures. Setting up a surveillance system A surveillance system for emergency health care should be started from the initial needs assessment
The goal of surveillance is to give timely
information about health problems so that diseases and outbreaks can be detected early and health services respond more effectively. Objectives of surveillance include Objectives of surveillance Monitoring a populations health and identifying priority immediate and long-term health needs
Following disease trends for early detection and
control of outbreaks
Assisting in planning and implementing health
programs
Ensuring resources are targeted to the most
vulnerable groups
Monitoring the quality of health care
Evaluating the coverage and effectiveness of
programe interventions Surveillance systems in emergency and post-emergency phases Indicators and sources of information
surveillance requires standard data collection,
analysis and reporting procedures
the time and resources for collecting, analysing
and reporting data are limited particularly in the acute emergency phase, only the most essential indicators should be selected based on practical use indicators in surveillance systems of an emergency
Demographic indicators estimate the total
population, vulnerable groups and in- andout migration
Health Status indicators estimate mortality
rate, morbidity rate and nutritional status
Programe process indicators estimate the
coverage of immunization, health services, food distribution, water and sanitation Surveillance indicators and sources of information Alternatives to surveillance
Surveillance systems are often biased because
they collect information passively, i.e. they mainly focus on people who use existing services
Other methods of gathering information are
necessary for detecting health problems and cases occurring outside the existing facilities. Other methods of collecting information will follow. Community-based surveillance In community surveillance, a limited amount of health information is gathered directly from the community (e.g. new cases with a common disease)
This might require training volunteers,
community health volunteers and extension health workers to recognise and manage cases according to their diagnostic skills
Broad case definitions can help community
outreach workers to recognise and refer all possible cases to health facilities Qualified health workers in higher levels of the emergency health system can be trained to use more specific (but less sensitive) case definitions, which may require laboratory confirmation. This will ensure the surveillance system does not miss any person that is a probable or definite case with a communicable disease
The table below gives examples of case
definitions that may be appropriate for workers at different levels of a primary health care programe Case definitions from home to hospital Surveys Sometimes it is necessary to organize focused assessments to gather information that is not immediately available through the existing surveillance system
For details on surveys, refer to the next section on
population surveys
Key differences between surveys and surveillance
are described in the following table. Differences between surveys and surveillance Outbreak investigation
A surveillance system should be sensitive enough to
pick up the first few cases with diseases that have epidemic potential (see table below).
This can be achieved by training all data collectors
to recognize cases with reportable diseases
They should also be given guidelines for
immediate reporting of a suspected disease outbreak.
All reports should prompt immediate action by the
appropriate health authorities beginning with a preliminary investigation to confirm whether there really is an outbreak Examples of diseases that can cause outbreak Analysing and reporting surveillance data For a surveillance system to be useful, the information that is gathered should be analyzed and reported in a timely manner.
Data analysis includes sumarising data into frequency
tables, calculating rates, plotting simple graphs and comparing all information with earlier information.
As much data analysis as possible must be done at
the field level where it can be used.
This will improve the programes effectiveness.
Staff responsible for analysing and reporting surveillance data need
Focus on mortality rates and key
causes of illness;
Display disease trends in form of
graphs;
Ensure information is passed
promptly to decision-makers in a manner they can easily understand; Give feedback to the data collectors after analysing and interpreting the information. Refer to the data analysis section for further details. Example of a 2x2 Frequency Table Evaluating a surveillance system The following indicators might also be used for evaluating the Percentage of cases system: surveillance or deaths reported as Unknown or Other;