Blog Articles
Wednesday, August 12th, 2015
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines public health surveillance as “the continuous, systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health-related data needed for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice.” For many with a public health background and great interest in furthering the field of early emergency health detection, they understand the importance of the integration of health IT systems into surveillance methods.
To elevate public health surveillance to the next level, many local, state and national public health organizations utilize syndromic surveillance that provides access to near real-time data. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) even operates a National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) to help facilitate the exchange of syndromic data. The key to the functionality of the NSSP and other types of syndromic surveillance programs is the sharing and analysis of the data in a timely fashion.
This week’s infographics blog post examines syndromic surveillance methods and demonstrations where the field is and where it is going in the future.
