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Beyond Traditional Surveillance: Applying Syndromic Surveillance to Developing Settings- Opportunities and Challenges

Description

The revised International Health Regulations (IHR) have expanded traditional infectious disease notification to include surveillance diseases of international importance, including emerging infectious diseases.  However, there are no clearly established guidelines for how countries should conduct this surveillance, which types of syndromes should be reported, nor any means for enforcement.  The commonly established concept of syndromic surveillance in developed regions encompasses the use of pre-diagnostic information in a near real time fashion for further investigation for public health action.  Syndromic surveillance is widely used in North America and Europe, and is typically thought of as a highly complex, technology driven automated tool for early detection of outbreaks.  Nonetheless, applications of syndromic surveillance using technology appropriate for the setting are being used worldwide to augment traditional surveillance, and may enhance compliance with the revised IHR.

Objective:

To review applications of syndromic surveillance in developing countries

Submitted by elamb on