Using Medications Sales from Retail Pharmacies for Syndromic Surveillance in Rural China

Drug sales data as an early indicator in syndromic surveillance has attracted particular interest in recent years, however previous studies were mostly conducted in developed countries or areas. In China, many people (around 60%) choose self-medication as their first option when they encounter a health problem, and electronic sales information system is gradually used by retail pharmacies, which makes drug sales data become a promising data source for syndromic surveillance in China.

Objective

To use an unconventional data - pharmaceutical sales surveillance for the early detection of respiratory and gastrointestinal epidemics in rural China.