AHEAD: a data resource to support the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the US Initiative (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Sullivan ◽  
Cory R Woodyatt ◽  
Oskian Kouzouian ◽  
Kristen Parrish ◽  
Jennifer Taussig ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Data Visualization ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Data Systems ◽  
Data Resource ◽  
Hiv Epidemic ◽  
Indicator Data ◽  
The U.S

UNSTRUCTURED Objectives: America’s HIV Epidemic Analysis Dashboard (AHEAD) is a data visualization tool that displays relevant data on the 6 HIV indicators provided by CDC that can be used to monitor progress towards ending the HIV epidemic in local communities across the U.S. The objective of AHEAD is to make data available to stakeholders that can be used to measure national and local progress towards 2025 and 2030 Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) goals and to help jurisdictions make local decisions that are grounded in high-quality data. Methods: AHEAD displays data from public health data systems (e.g., surveillance systems, Census data), organized around the six EHE indicators (incidence, knowledge of status, diagnoses, linkage to HIV medical care, viral suppression, and PrEP coverage). Data are displayed for each of the EHE priority areas (48 counties Washington, D.C. and San Juan, PR) which accounted for more than 50% of all U.S. HIV diagnoses in 2016 and 2017 and seven primarily Southern states with high rates of HIV in rural communities. AHEAD also displays data for the 43 remaining states for which data are available. Data features prioritize interactive data-visualization tools that allow users to compare indicator data stratified by sex at birth, race, age, and transmission category within a jurisdiction (when available) or compare data on EHE indicators between jurisdictions. Results: AHEAD was launched on August 14, 2020. In the 11 months since its launch, the Dashboard has been visited 26,591 times by 17,600 unique users. About a third of all users returned to the Dashboard at least once. On average, users engaged with 2.4 pages during their visit to the Dashboard, indicating that the average user goes beyond the informational landing page to engage with one or more pages of data and content. The most frequently visited content pages are the Jurisdictions webpages. Conclusions: The Ending the HIV Epidemic plan is described as a “whole of society” effort. Societal public health initiatives require objective indicators and require that all societal stakeholders have transparent access to indicator data at the level of the health jurisdictions responsible for meeting the goals of the plan. Data transparency empowers local stakeholders to track movement towards EHE goals, identify areas with needs for improvement, make data-informed adjustments to deploy the expertise and resources required to locally tailor and implement strategies to end the HIV epidemic in their jurisdiction.

Surveillance for Bloodborne Infections

1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (08) ◽  
pp. 494-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Chamberland
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Emerging Infectious Diseases ◽  
Blood Substitute ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Institute Of Medicine ◽  
Blood Safety ◽  
Prevention Strategies ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
The U.S

IntroductionSince blood is a biological product, it is a natural vehicle for transmission of infectious agents, and until an artificial blood substitute is developed, the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections will probably not be eliminated. Three agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services–the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and National Institutes of Health (NIH)–have collaborated with partners in local and state public health departments, academia, industry, and consumers to develop prevention strategies addressing emerging infectious disease threats to public health, including the safety of the U.S. blood supply. Four critical components of these prevention strategies are as follows: surveillance and response capabilities; integration of laboratory science and epidemiology (i.e., “applied research”) to optimize public health practice; prevention and control activities to enhance communication of public health information; and a strengthening of local, state, and federal infrastructures to support these activities.1 As highlighted by the Institute of Medicine, in its series of reports about the ongoing threat to health posed by emerging infectious diseases, surveillance is the critical lynchpin for the public health response to both known and unrecognized pathogenic threats.2 Surveillance data can be used to monitor and track temporal and demographic trends of disease, alert us to outbreaks or unexpected alterations in disease frequency or affected populations, serve as a basis for subsequent epidemiologic and laboratory investigations to describe the natural history of a disease or identify risk factors for its occurrence, and evaluate intervention strategies.2,3 This paper will review programs of surveillance in the U.S. to detect established and emerging infectious risks, with an emphasis on those that address blood safety. In addition, recent examples or case studies that illustrate the responsiveness of U.S. surveillance systems to blood safety issues will be presented.

scholarly journals The U.S. COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey, 2020-2021: Continuous real-time measurement of COVID-19 symptoms, risks, protective behaviors, testing and vaccination

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua A Salomon ◽  
Alex Reinhart ◽  
Alyssa Bilinski ◽  
Eu Jing Chua ◽  
Wichida La Motte-Kerr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Survey Methods ◽  
Health Priorities ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Public Health Reporting ◽  
The U.S

The U.S. COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey (CTIS) is a large, cross-sectional, Internet-based survey that has operated continuously since April 6, 2020. By inviting a random sample of Facebook active users each day, CTIS collects information about COVID-19 symptoms, risks, mitigating behaviors, mental health, testing, vaccination, and other key priorities. The large scale of the survey -- over 20 million responses in its first year of operation -- allows tracking of trends over short timescales and allows comparisons at fine demographic and geographic detail. The survey has been repeatedly revised to respond to emerging public health priorities. In this paper, we describe the survey methods and content and give examples of CTIS results that illuminate key patterns and trends and help answer high-priority policy questions relevant to the COVID-19 epidemic and response. These results demonstrate how large online surveys can provide continuous, real-time indicators of important outcomes that are not subject to public health reporting delays and backlogs. The CTIS offers high value as a supplement to official reporting data by supplying essential information about behaviors, attitudes toward policy and preventive measures, economic impacts, and other topics not reported in public health surveillance systems.

The Public Health Response to the HIV Epidemic in the U.S.

2004 ◽  
pp. 997-1012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Wolitski ◽  
Robert S. Janssen ◽  
David R. Holtgrave ◽  
John L. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
The Public ◽  
Hiv Epidemic ◽  
Health Response ◽  
The U.S

scholarly journals U.S. Decennial Census Digitization and Linkage Project

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Trent Alexander ◽  
Katie Genadek
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Handwriting Recognition ◽  
Decennial Census ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Statistical Research ◽  
Statistical Tool ◽  
Production Scale ◽  
Data Infrastructure ◽  
Data Resource ◽  
The U.S

The U.S. Census Bureau maintains a large longitudinal research infrastructure that currently includes linked data from the 1940 census, the 2000-2010 censuses, major national surveys going back to 1973, and administrative records dating back to the 1990s. These restricted data are accessible to researchers around the U.S. via the Federal Statistical Research Data Centers (FSRDC) network. The major shortcoming of this infrastructure is that it lacks linkable files from the decennial censuses of 1950 through 1990. Full-count microdata from these censuses are available for research, but datasets from these years do not include respondent names and therefore have not been linked over time. Respondent names for these censuses are available only via the original census returns, which are stored on 258,000 reels of microfilm. The Decennial Census Digitization and Linkage project (DCDL) is an initiative to recover names from the 1960-1990 censuses and to produce linked restricted microdata files for research use. We describe the results of a pilot project we completed on the 1990 census. For that pilot, we created digital images from census microfilm, hand-keyed "truth data" from those images, supported two teams' attempts to conduct Handwriting Recognition on the images, appended recovered names to already-existing microdata files, and linked the new 1990 census microdata records to previous and subsequent censuses. We describe our processes, the accuracy of the Handwriting Recognition, and the accuracy of the record linkage with the recovered names. We conclude by providing an update on the recently-initiated project to carry out these processes on a production scale for the 1960 through 1990 censuses. When combined with existing linkages between the censuses of 1940, 2000, 2010, the soon-to-be public 1950 census, and the future 2020 census, DCDL will provide the final component in a massive longitudinal data infrastructure that covers most of the U.S. population since 1940. As a multi-purpose statistical tool, the DCDL will further the U.S. Census Bureau's mission to provide high quality data on the U.S. population and support cutting-edge research in the FSRDC network. The resulting data resource will expand our understanding of population dynamics in the U.S. far beyond what is currently possible, providing transformational opportunities for research, education, and evidence-building across the social, behavioral, and economic sciences.

scholarly journals End-user experiences with two incident and injury reporting systems designed for led outdoor activities - challenges for implementation of future data systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline F. Finch ◽  
Natassia Goode ◽  
Louise Shaw ◽  
Paul M. Salmon
Keyword(s):  
Surveillance System ◽  
Incident Reporting ◽  
Near Miss ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Data Systems ◽  
Outdoor Activity ◽  
User Experiences ◽  
Incident Reports

Abstract Background Injury and incident (near miss) prevention is heavily dependent upon robust and high-quality data systems. Evaluations of surveillance systems designed to report factors associated with incidents and injuries are essential to understand their value, as well as to improve their performance and efficiency. Despite, this there have been few such evaluations published in the peer-review literature. Methods The attitudes and experiences of industry representatives who used one of two variants of an incident and injury surveillance system to collect injury and incident data for the led outdoor activity setting were obtained through an online self-report survey following a 12-month trial. Survey respondents were 18 representatives of 33 organisations who were users of a comprehensive incident reporting and surveillance system – the Understanding and Preventing Led Outdoor Accidents Data System Software Tool (UPLOADS-ST) - and six out of 11 users of a modified system (UPLOADS-Lite). The survey collected information on user experiences in relation to system training, accessibility, ease of use, security, feedback and perceived value to the sector of collating and reporting data across organisations. Findings Only four UPLOADS-ST responding users found the system easy to use and just three considered entering incident reports to be easy. However, many considered the training on reporting incidents to be sufficient and that the incident reports contained relevant details. Fewer than half of respondents (seven for UPLOADS-ST, three for UPLOADS-Lite) believed entering data was a good use of staff time and resources. Nonetheless, a majority of respondents (seven for UPLOADS-ST, five for UPLOADS-Lite) found the reporting format easy to read and felt the information provided was useful for their organisation. Conclusions Usability barriers to incident reporting were identified, particularly for UPLOADS-ST, including time constraints and user friendliness. The majority of users believed aggregating and reporting incident and injury data across organisations would be of value in making the led outdoor activity sector safer. Improving the utility of the surveillance systems will assist in ensuring their sustainability in the led outdoor activity sector.

scholarly journals Coordinated Enhanced Surveillance with Healthcare Entities for Mass Gathering Events

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin E. Austin
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Syndromic Surveillance ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Mass Gathering ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
Specific Field ◽  
Mass Gatherings ◽  
Ed Visits ◽  
The U.S

ObjectiveTo describe the planning strategies and lessons learned by theVirginia Department of Health (VDH) when conducting enhancedsurveillance during mass gathering events and coordinating withhealthcare entities to distinguish event-related emergency department(ED) visits from community-related ED visits.IntroductionMass gatherings can result in morbidity and mortality fromcommunicable and non-communicable diseases, injury, andbioterrorism. Therefore, it is important to identify event-related visitsas opposed to community-related visits when conducting publichealth surveillance1. Previous mass gatherings in Virginia havedemonstrated the importance of implementing enhanced surveillanceto facilitate early detection of public health issues to allow for timelyresponse2.MethodsBetween June 2015 and September 2015, VDH coordinatedwith two healthcare entities representing six acute care hospitalsto conduct enhanced surveillance for the 2015 World Police andFire Games and 2015 Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) RoadWorld Championships. VDH established initial communicationwith each healthcare entity between 1 week to 2 months before theevent start date to discuss functional requirements with technical,informatics, and clinical staff. Requirements included: 1) health careentity identifying gathering attendees during the ED registration, 2)capturing a standardized mass gathering indicator within the patient’selectronic health record (EHR), and 3) transmitting the gatheringindicator to VDH through existing electronic syndromic surveillancereporting processes. ED visit records with the gathering indicator wereanalyzed by VDH using the Virginia Electronic Surveillance Systemfor the Notification Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE) andfindings were incorporated in daily VDH situational reports. Thissame methodology will be applied for the upcoming U.S. VicePresidential Debate in October 2016.ResultsThe duration of the two gatherings in 2015 ranged from 9 to 10 daysand the locations were categorized as urban. The population densityof the gathering location ranged from 1,950 to 2,889 populationper square mile. The estimated number of attendees ranged from45,000 to 400,000. Attendees were defined as having attended at leastone day of the mass gathering event. The mass gathering indicatorcaptured during the ED registration included the gathering acronymor a gathering specific field with a drop down menu containingtrue/false options. VDH utilized ESSENCE to identify 42 ED visits(0.5%) with the gathering acronym out of 8,768 total ED visits duringthe 2015 World Police and Fire Games and 60 ED visits (2.6%)with the gathering specific field out of 2,296 total visits during the2015 UCI Road World Championships. The results of the U.S. VicePresidential Debate in October 2016 are pending.ConclusionsIn 2015, VDH partnered with two healthcare entities to conductenhanced surveillance during two mass gatherings. Although VDHroutinely uses syndromic surveillance data to identify issues of publichealth concern, it has previously lacked the ability to identify EDvisits specific to mass gatherings. Prior to collaboration with VDH,the healthcare entities did not capture gathering-specific ED visitsusing their EHR systems. The two healthcare entities successfullymodified their business procedures and EHR system to capture andtransmit a gathering indicator for ED visits despite some challenges.These challenges include constraints with customization of theEHR and syndromic surveillance systems, lack of standardizedtraining among ED registration staff for interpreting and applyingthe gathering indicator, and limited functionality testing prior tothe event. Lessons learned from this coordinated effort are to: 1)initiate the planning phase and identification of requirements as earlyas possible to ensure they are well defined and understandable, 2)implement frequent communications with the healthcare entity,and 3) customize requirements for the specific gathering as muchas possible while balancing the burden and benefit to public healthand the healthcare entity. The coordinated enhanced surveillanceefforts provided both VDH and the healthcare entities with improvedsituational awareness and capacity building during mass gatheringevents. The strategies and lessons learned from these two events willbe applied to improve enhanced surveillance of public health issuesduring future mass gatherings, including the U.S. Vice PresidentialDebate in October 2016.

Substance Abuse and Drug-Related Death, Suicidal Ideation, and Suicide: A Review

Crisis ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Mino ◽  
Arnaud Bousquet ◽  
Barbara Broers
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Family Support ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Major Public Health Problem ◽  
Hiv Epidemic

The high mortality rate among drug users, which is partly due to the HIV epidemic and partly due to drug-related accidental deaths and suicides, presents a major public health problem. Knowing more about prevalence, incidence, and risk factors is important for the development of rational preventive and therapeutic programs. This article attempts to give an overview of studies of the relations between substance abuse, suicidal ideation, suicide, and drug-related death. Research in this field is hampered by the absence of clear definitions, and results of studies are rarely comparable. There is, however, consensus about suicidal ideation being a risk factor for suicide attempts and suicide. Suicidal ideation is also a predictor of suicide, especially among drug users. It is correlated with an absence of family support, with the severity of the psychosocial dysfunctioning, and with multi-drug abuse, but also with requests for treatment. Every clinical examination of a drug user, not only of those who are depressed, should address the possible presence of suicidal ideation, as well as its intensity and duration.

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