Communicable disease surveillance and response systems. Guide to monitoring and evaluating
Surveillance is the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of outcome specific data for use in planning, implementing and evaluating public health policies and practices. A communicable disease surveillance system serves two key functions; early warning of potential threats to public health and programme monitoring functions which may be disease specific or multi-disease in nature.
The early warning functions of surveillance are fundamental for national, regional and global health security. Recent outbreaks such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and
avian influenza, and potential threats from biological and chemical agents, demonstrate the importance of effective national surveillance and response systems. The International Health
Regulations (IHR) 2005 underscore the commitment to the goal of global security and request all Member States to establish and implement effective surveillance and response systems to
detect and contain public health threats of national and international importance.
The programme monitoring function of surveillance of communicable diseases encompasses a variety of goals such as eradication or elimination (e.g. of guinea worm, measles) and surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis. Surveillance systems also serve to monitor trends of endemic diseases, progress towards disease control objectives, and to provide information which may be used to evaluate the impact of disease prevention and control programmes.
This Guide has been developed to support implementation of monitoring and evaluation of communicable disease surveillance and response systems at country level. It was reviewed by experts in communicable disease surveillance and response systems, and pre-tested in Estonia and Ethiopia.