Data Quality

An active syndromic surveillance system was designed to collect cattle health information from a sample of Texas cattle market sales. Texas Animal Health Commission livestock inspectors record the total number of animals observed along with the total number displaying clinical signs of interest grouped into body system categories (e.g. respiratory, neurologic, etc.). Inspection reports are submitted to the United States Department of Agriculture Veterinary Services (VS) Risk Identification Team for monitoring. 

Objective

Implement a mobile technology platform to capture and transmit syndromic cattle data collected at Texas market sales. 

Once a facility meets data quality standards and is approved for production, an assumption is made that the quality of data received remains at the same level. When looking at production data quality reports from various states generated using a SAS data quality program, a need for production data quality assessment was identified. By implementing a periodic data quality update on all production facilities, data quality has improved for production data as a whole and for individual facility data. Through this activity several root causes of data quality degradation have been identified, allowing processes to be implemented in order to mitigate impact on data quality. 

Objective

To explore the quality of data submitted once a facility is moved into an ongoing submission status and address the importance of continuing data quality assessments. 

Circumstances within the military environment may place military personnel at increased risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STI) including HIV. HIV bio-behavioral risk studies provide a critical source of data to estimate HIV/STI prevalence and identify risk factors, allowing programs to maximize impact by focusing on the drivers of the epidemic. 

Objective

We present lessons learned from over a decade of HIV bio- behavioral risk study implementation and capacity-building in African militaries. 

In September, 2015, Nigeria was delisted from the list of polio endemic countries globally. To be certified polio free, the country must attain and maintain certification standard Acute Flaccid Paralysis(AFP) surveillance for additional two-years. In Oyo State, no case of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) has been reported since February, 2009.

Objective

We evaluated the AFP surveillance system in Oyo State to assessits attributes and determine if it was meeting its set objectives.

Traditionally, public health surveillance departments collect, analyze, interpret, and package information into static surveillance reports for distribution to stakeholders. This resource-intensive production and dissemination process has major shortcomings that impede end users from optimally utilizing this information for public health action. Often, by the time traditional reports are ready for dissemination they are outdated. Information can be difficult to find in long static reports and there is no capability to interact with the data by users. Instead, ad hoc data requests are made, resulting in inefficiencies and delays.

Use of electronic dashboards for surveillance reporting is not new. Many public health departments have worked with information technology (IT) contractors to develop such technically sophisticated products requiring IT expertise. The technology and tools now exist to equip the public health workforce to develop in-house surveillance dashboards, which allow for unprecedented speed, flexibility, and cost savings while meeting the needs of stakeholders. At Alberta Health Services (AHS), in-house, end-to-end dashboard development infrastructure has been established that provides epidemiologists and data analysts full capabilities for effective and timely reporting of surveillance information. 

Objective

To address the limitations of traditional static surveillance reporting by developing in-house infrastructure to create and maintain interactive surveillance dashboards. 

Malaria is a parasitic disease caused by Plasmodium falciparum. About 3.2 billion people worldwide are at risk of malaria. Children and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to the disease. Sub- Saharan Africa carries a high share of the global malaria burden. Effective malaria surveillance system is essential in the control and elimination of malaria. Worldwide, there were an estimated 198 million cases of malaria in 2013 and 584,000 deaths. 

Objective

To describe the process of operation of the system and assess its key attributes, to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the surveillance system and make appropriate recommendations to stakeholders for its improvement.