The Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System: A Distributed Surveillance Model

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) established the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System (CCDSS) in 2009 to facilitate national estimates of chronic disease prevalence, incidence, and health outcomes. The CCDSS uses population-based linked health administrative databases from all provinces/territories (P/Ts) and a distributed analytic protocol to produce standardized disease estimates.

Objective

To describe the process, benefits, and challenges of implementing a distributed model for chronic disease surveillance across thirteen Canadian jurisdictions.