Surveillance Systems

The October 2010 eruption of Mt Merapi (the most active volcano in the Indonesia that erupts at 5-years intervals) claimed 141 lives, injured 453 people and displaced at least 278,000 people. This geological event became a disaster as national and international agencies had to step in to assist the Yogyakarta Province and Sleman District Administrations in dealing with the devastation caused by the pyroclastic flows. Because of its cyclic nature the task of the local governments is to improve the hazard mitigation system and to increase the resiliency of the population.

On 22 July 2013 the Volcano spewed ash clouds and people of two villages of the Cangkringan Sub-District evacuated themselves to the local village halls. The hazards posed by the ash clouds of the volcano and by the displacement of vulnerable populations, did cause certain physical and emotional sufferings, but could be controlled by the local administration.

Objective

To examine whether the danger zone District Health Office (DHO) and sub-district Health Centers (HCs) were employing an inter-disaster Public Health Surveillance-Response (PH S-R) System after the October 2010 Mt Merapi eruption and a pre-disaster PH S-R System during the July 2013 Mt Merapi eruption.

A major drawback in disability prevention and rehabilitation in Sri Lanka is the lack of complete, accurate and timely data. National disability surveys conducted as a part of the decennial census lack complete and scientifically accurate information. Further, Sri Lanka has no established disability surveillance system. This review was conducted to explore the national disability data and to develop a methodology for the establishment of a disability surveillance system in Sri Lanka.

Objective

To review the national disability statistics and to develop a methodology for the establishment of a national disability surveillance system in Sri Lanka.

Whole-genome sequencing of disease-causing organisms provides an unabridged examination of the genetic content of individual pathogen isolates, enabling public health laboratories to benefit from comparative analyses of total genetic content. Combining this information with sample metadata such as temporal, geospatial, morbidity, and mortality can greatly increase the efficacy of genomics analysis. However, with the vast amount of data generated by such techniques, meaningful, rapid, and accurate analysis that interprets and correlates nucleotide polymorphisms for public health practice presents many challenges. To this end we have created a modular genomics analysis toolkit that can easily integrate diverse data streams and couple analysis with an array of visualization platforms.

Objective

To develop a modular approach to infectious disease genomic analysis that can easily integrate with public health analytics systems. Using dynamic approaches to genomic sequence analysis, relevant whole genome data can be quickly and accurately visualized and correlated, using a minimum of computational resources. We propose to develop visualization modules that integrate disparate data sources including integrate geospatial location metadata with associated epidemiological factors to enable faster outbreak identification and enhance surveillance.

Since its inception in 2008, PHO has grown through new funding to establish the agency, as well as a series of program transfers from the Government of Ontario, including ID surveillance. PHO’s current role in ID surveillance in Ontario is to support the public health and health care systems with surveillance information, tools, and resources for the prevention and control of IDs. PHO also provides scientific and technical expertise for IDs, including different aspects of surveillance (e.g., data entry requirements, statistical algorithms, provincial surveillance reports).

The overarching aim of the framework is to establish PHO’s key priorities, strategies, and actions to guide ID surveillance over the next five years and will help advance ID surveillance across Ontario. This is PHO’s first step towards a strategic and coordinated approach to ID surveillance.

Objective

This presentation will outline the development process for Public Health Ontario’s (PHO’s) first Infectious Disease Surveillance Framework (the framework), highlight key elements of the framework, and identify examples of infectious disease (ID) surveillance activities and projects that align with the framework.

Ascariasis is one of the most common intestinal nematode infections caused by Ascaris lumbricoides, especially in the tropics and subtropics where warm, wet climates favor year-round transmission of infection. Humans become infected by ingesting infective ascaris eggs in contaminated food, water or from hands that have become faecally contaminated and can cause reduced physical fitness, growth retardation, and respiratory and gastrointestinal problems. The highest morbidity is found in children, especially in those with a high worm burden. To identify high risk areas for intervention, it is necessary to understand the effects of climatic, environmental and socio-demographic conditions on A. lumbricoides infection. In Sri Lanka, although ascariasis was the commonest intestinal parasitic infection among children, information about associated factors and current health impact is insufficient. Therefore, this study was designed to develop and pilot an Ascariasis surveillance system among children in Sri Lanka.

Objective

Designing, developing and Piloting an Ascariasis surveillance system of children to determine factors associated with their variations in Sri Lanka.

During all phases of the disaster management cycle, PH surveillance plays a valuable role. Surveillance provides PH officials and stakeholders the information they need to respond to disasters and take action in an appropriate and timely manner. Despite the fact that surveillance provides a valuable function in disasters, a study by the Disaster Epidemiology Subcommittee of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) found that there are still significant differences, across states, in their use of disaster surveillance. Further, there is no standardized guidance on implementing or modifying surveillance for a domestic disaster. This document seeks to fill this gap, providing guidance on planning, initiating, conducting, and evaluating disaster PH surveillance in the U.S.

Objective

Our objectives are to describe and receive feedback on a disaster surveillance guidance document that can be used by state and local health departments, to fill the gaps in public health (PH) disaster morbidity and mortality surveillance.

Before the launch of standard National Health Information System (NMHIS) in 2000, there had been acute paucity of reliable and timely health information in Pakistan. Health Departments had no choice than to resort to estimates or carry expensive community based surveys to determine the disease incidence. After the development and deployment of NHMIS, overall Health System is reshaping itself based upon the regular and frequent information now available on a good number number of priority health problems. This is system is now offering tremendous opportunities for promoting the cause of evidence based decision making and monitoring of its expanded health care structure. This effort had led to putting in place a standard system of data collection and transmission from roughly 13000 public health services (both urban and rural ). The new system is now able to promptly locate pockets of vulnerable communities reporting high disease incidence.

Objective

Purpose of this abstract is to show how launch of a standard National Health Information System is has become the main national data source, and is, playing a pivotal role in facilitating decision making in health care system in Pakistan.

Electronic disease surveillance canonically represents analysis performed on health records with respect to their syndromes, complaints, lab data, etc. This data can tell the story of a patient’s current status but does not provide a holistic look at the where the patient is from. By incorporating census data, a deeper examination of the patient’s area can be performed which may result in discovery of risk factors associated with race, economic status, and culture.

Objective

The objective of this project is to enable a deeper analysis of patient health by correlating patient health records with the census demographic data. Based upon these correlations, the ESSENCE system will be enhanced with new query filtering capabilities.

Cutaneous anthrax is endemic in Georgia. The EIDSS program captures notifications from 72 municipal public health centers. It links urgent notification, case investigation data, and laboratory data on an online basis. Eleven virulent and 4 non-virulent strains of B. anthracis have been isolated. Genotype GK 35 and GK 44 are strains found in the Turkish-Southern Caucasian region. It is hypothesized that human rates are caused by increased contact with infected animals. The recent re-introduction of animal vaccination programs in 2013-2014 heightens interest is establishing a defensible 6-year baseline trend in humans.

Objective

To characterize descriptive trends using data collected by the national Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System (EIDSS, 2008-2013).

Mapping ILI surveillance data can be useful in identifying the direction and speed of an outbreak and for focusing control measures for an efficient public health response. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) ILINet currently displays weekly ILI geographic data at a national/regional/state level, but this visual data could also be useful at the local level.

Objective

To create a local geographic influenza-like illness (ILI) activity report.