Epidemiological Surveillance in Relief and Development
"Disease surveillance is the routine ongoing collection, analysis and dissemination of
health data."
from WHO–recommended standards
for surveillance of selected vaccine-preventable diseases
Epidemiology is acquiring an important role in a multi-sector approach to
humanitarian aid.
It is an extremely valuable instrument in order to collect and analyse data
that can be difficult to obtain both in relief and development programmes but particularly after natural or man made disasters.
This information is essential, not only as a tool to track morbidity patterns and trigger alerts, but also in promoting accountability and as
the basis for re-assessment and constant improvement of the activities carried out in the field.
Deterioration of hygiene, poor food availability and lack of shelter are the usual consequences of emergencies. Outbreaks of communicable disease can put further stress on
already stretched health systems leading to what has been defined as a disaster within a disaster.
In development the focus is on strengthening national surveillance systems in order to aid in scision making and implementation of public health interventions.
Information sharing among partners involved in international aid projects,
in respect of confidentiality issues, is focal in the development of a network
of trust and cooperation among relief agencies, local authorities and other
partners such as Universities.
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Find out more on public health surveillance from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website
Check out the World Health Oranization (WHO) Epidemiologic Surveillance webpage
Softwares for Epidemiological Surveillance
Although the IT market offers many powerful epidemiological tools, in this section the focus is on free and open-source software. Contributions are welcomed to increase the number of options available.
Epi Info
Epi Info is a free software distributed by the CDC that enables epidemiologists and other public health and
medical professionals can rapidly develop a questionnaire or form, customize the data entry process, and enter and analyze data.
WHONET05
WHONET is a database system developed and distributed by WHO for the management of microbiology laboratory data and analysis of antimicrobial susceptibility test results.
Open Office
A lot of information for surveillance is collected in spreadsheet format. Within the Open Office Suite, Calc can offer a valid alternative to
commercial products. The suite also contains a database software to experiment with called Base.
Other Resources
The Department of Epidemiology of the University of California (UCLA) has in place an interesting webpage with information on Epi Info and other free epidemiological softwares
Disease Fact Sheets
Links
The following links lead you to disease fact sheets in alphabetical order, elaborated by WHO and CDC.
A great reference publication is the American Public Health Association's CONTROL OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASE MANUAL
find out more on Wikipedia
Case Definitions
Links
The following links guide you to websites where to access information on case definitions.
Webpages and articles
- Surveillance standards for Vaccine Preventable Diseases (WHO Website)
- CDC Surveillance Website (CDC Website)
- Norms and Standards in Epidemiology: Guidelines for Epidemiological Surveillance of Polio and Malaria (WHO-PAHO Website)
Downloadable Manuals