scholarly journals Overcoming the misrepresentation of disease burden associated with single aggregation choropleth maps through combining information from many aggregations

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Tuson ◽  
Matthew Yap ◽  
Mei Ruu Kok ◽  
Bryan Boruff ◽  
Kevin Murray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Disease Mapping ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Service Planning ◽  
Overlay Method ◽  
Choropleth Maps ◽  
Fine Resolution ◽  
The Impact

BackgroundAccurate disease mapping based on spatiotemporal data is an important aspect of public health surveillance, targeting interventions, and health service planning. This is achieved by public health surveillance organisations around the world through the construction of choropleth maps based on single spatiotemporal aggregations of finer resolution data. However, such maps are undermined by their dependence on the spatiotemporal units used. This dependence is described by the related modifiable areal and temporal unit problems (MAUP; MTUP), also known as change of support problems (COSPs). AimTo accurately map disease. MethodsUsing ischaemic stroke admissions and mental health-related ED presentations in metropolitan Perth between 2013 and 2016 as exemplars, we present a novel zonation overlay approach for disease mapping. This method involves aggregating fine resolution spatial data numerous times instead of just once, using the automated zonation construction software AZTool. Results Through implementing the zonation overlay method in combination with a rolling window of time, both the MAUP and the MTUP may be overcome in the context of disease mapping. Furthermore, the AZTool zonations act as a geographical encryption key, allowing fine resolution, precise maps to be constructed while protecting the privacy of individuals. ConclusionHealth surveillance organisations continue to produce single aggregation choropleth maps of disease, without acknowledging their limitations except in rare cases. Producing such maps and suggesting they should guide policy makers, while being aware of but not acknowledging the impact of COSPs, could be described as scientific malfeasance. However, assuming that most researchers producing such maps are not intending to mislead, we must conclude that COSPs are poorly understood and their impact underestimated. The zonation overlay method we describe can help alleviate the consequences of this continued practice.

scholarly journals Use of technology for public health surveillance reporting: opportunities, challenges and lessons learnt from Kenya

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Njeru ◽  
David Kareko ◽  
Ngina Kisangau ◽  
Daniel Langat ◽  
Nzisa Liku ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance Data ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Reporting Rates ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background: Infectious diseases remain one of the greatest threats to public health globally. Effective public health surveillance systems are therefore needed to provide timely and accurate information for early detection and response. In 2016, Kenya transitioned its surveillance system from a standalone web-based surveillance system to the more sustainable and integrated District Health Information System 2 (DHIS2). As part of Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) initiatives in Kenya, training on use of the new system was conducted among surveillance officers. We evaluated the surveillance indicators during the transition period in order to assess the impact of this training on surveillance metrics and identify challenges affecting reporting rates. Methods: From February to May 2017, we analysed surveillance data for 13 intervention and 13 comparison counties. An intervention county was defined as one that had received refresher training on DHIS2 while a comparison county was one that had not received training. We evaluated the impact of the training by analysing completeness and timeliness of reporting 15 weeks before and 12 weeks after the training. A chi-square test of independence was used to compare the reporting rates between the two groups. A structured questionnaire was administered to the training participants to assess the challenges affecting surveillance reporting. Results: The completeness of reporting increased significantly after the training by 17 percentage points (from 45% to 62%) for the intervention group compared to 3 percentage points (49% to 52%) for the comparison group. Timeliness of reporting increased significantly by 21 percentage points (from 30% to 51%) for the intervention group compared to 7 percentage points (from 31% to 38%) for the comparison group. Major challenges identified for the low reporting rates included lack of budget support from government, lack of airtime for reporting, health workers strike, health facilities not sending surveillance data, use of wrong denominator to calculate reporting rates and surveillance officers being given other competing tasks. Conclusions: Training plays an important role in improving public health surveillance reporting. However, to improve surveillance reporting rates to the desired national targets, other challenges affecting reporting must be identified and addressed accordingly.

scholarly journals The impact of cell phones on public health surveillance

2010 ◽  
Vol 88 (11) ◽  
pp. 799-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaohua Sean Hu ◽  
Lina Balluz ◽  
Michael P Battaglia ◽  
Martin R Frankel
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Cell Phones ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Use of technology for public health surveillance reporting: opportunities, challenges and lessons learnt from Kenya

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Njeru ◽  
David Kareko ◽  
Ngina Kisangau ◽  
Daniel Langat ◽  
Nzisa Liku ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance Data ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Reporting Rates ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background: Effective public health surveillance systems are crucial for early detection and response to outbreaks. In 2016, Kenya transitioned its surveillance system from a standalone web-based surveillance system to the more sustainable and integrated District Health Information System 2 (DHIS2). As part of Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) initiatives in Kenya, training on use of the new system was conducted among surveillance officers. We evaluated the surveillance indicators during the transition period in order to assess the impact of this training on surveillance metrics and identify challenges affecting reporting rates. Methods: From February to May 2017, we analysed surveillance data for 13 intervention and 13 comparison counties. An intervention county was defined as one that had received refresher training on DHIS2 while a comparison county was one that had not received training. We evaluated the impact of the training by analysing completeness and timeliness of reporting 15 weeks before and 12 weeks after the training. A chi-square test of independence was used to compare the reporting rates between the two groups. A structured questionnaire was administered to the training participants to assess the challenges affecting surveillance reporting. Results: The average completeness of reporting for the intervention counties increased from 45% to 62%, i.e. by 17 percentage points (95% CI 16.14 -17.86) compared to an increase from 49% to 52% for the comparison group, i.e. by 3 percentage points (95% CI 2.23 -3.77). The timeliness of reporting increased from 30% to 51%, i.e. by 21 percentage points (95% CI 20.16 - 21.84) for the intervention group, compared to an increase from 31% to 38% for the comparison group, i.e.by 7 percentage points (95% CI 6.27-7.73). Major challenges for the low reporting rates included lack of budget support from government, lack of airtime for reporting, health workers strike, health facilities not sending surveillance data, use of wrong denominator to calculate reporting rates and surveillance officers having other competing tasks. Conclusions: Training plays an important role in improving public health surveillance reporting. However, to improve surveillance reporting rates to the desired national targets, other challenges affecting reporting must be identified and addressed accordingly.

scholarly journals The Application of Internet-Based Sources for Public Health Surveillance (Infoveillance): Systematic Review (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joana M Barros ◽  
Jim Duggan ◽  
Dietrich Rebholz-Schuhmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Search Queries ◽  
The Impact

BACKGROUND Public health surveillance is based on the continuous and systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. This informs the development of early warning systems to monitor epidemics and documents the impact of intervention measures. The introduction of digital data sources, and specifically sources available on the internet, has impacted the field of public health surveillance. New opportunities enabled by the underlying availability and scale of internet-based sources (IBSs) have paved the way for novel approaches for disease surveillance, exploration of health communities, and the study of epidemic dynamics. This field and approach is also known as infodemiology or infoveillance. OBJECTIVE This review aimed to assess research findings regarding the application of IBSs for public health surveillance (infodemiology or infoveillance). To achieve this, we have presented a comprehensive systematic literature review with a focus on these sources and their limitations, the diseases targeted, and commonly applied methods. METHODS A systematic literature review was conducted targeting publications between 2012 and 2018 that leveraged IBSs for public health surveillance, outbreak forecasting, disease characterization, diagnosis prediction, content analysis, and health-topic identification. The search results were filtered according to previously defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. RESULTS Spanning a total of 162 publications, we determined infectious diseases to be the preferred case study (108/162, 66.7%). Of the eight categories of IBSs (search queries, social media, news, discussion forums, websites, web encyclopedia, and online obituaries), search queries and social media were applied in 95.1% (154/162) of the reviewed publications. We also identified limitations in representativeness and biased user age groups, as well as high susceptibility to media events by search queries, social media, and web encyclopedias. CONCLUSIONS IBSs are a valuable proxy to study illnesses affecting the general population; however, it is important to characterize which diseases are best suited for the available sources; the literature shows that the level of engagement among online platforms can be a potential indicator. There is a necessity to understand the population’s online behavior; in addition, the exploration of health information dissemination and its content is significantly unexplored. With this information, we can understand how the population communicates about illnesses online and, in the process, benefit public health.

scholarly journals CDC Surveillance Strategy – A Strategy for Improving CDC Activities in Public Health Surveillance

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chesley Richards ◽  
Brian Lee
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Surveillance Strategy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
Health Surveillance Data ◽  
The Impact

Public health surveillance guides efforts to detect and monitor disease and injuries, assess the impact of interventions and assist in the management of and recovery from large-scale public health incidents. Actions informed by surveillance information take many forms, such as policy changes, new program interventions, public communications and investments in research. Local, state and federal public health professionals, government leaders, public health partners and the public are dependent on high quality, timely and actionable public health surveillance data. This Surveillance Strategy aims to improve overall surveillance capabilities, and by extension those of the public health system at large.

scholarly journals Use of technology for public health surveillance reporting: opportunities, challenges and lessons learnt from Kenya

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Njeru ◽  
David Kareko ◽  
Ngina Kisangau ◽  
Daniel Langat ◽  
Nzisa Liku ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance Data ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Reporting Rates ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background: Effective public health surveillance systems are crucial for early detection and response to outbreaks. In 2016, Kenya transitioned its surveillance system from a standalone web-based surveillance system to the more sustainable and integrated District Health Information System 2 (DHIS2). As part of Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) initiatives in Kenya, training on use of the new system was conducted among surveillance officers. We evaluated the surveillance indicators during the transition period in order to assess the impact of this training on surveillance metrics and identify challenges affecting reporting rates. Methods: From February to May 2017, we analysed surveillance data for 13 intervention and 13 comparison counties. An intervention county was defined as one that had received refresher training on DHIS2 while a comparison county was one that had not received training. We evaluated the impact of the training by analysing completeness and timeliness of reporting 15 weeks before and 12 weeks after the training. A chi-square test of independence was used to compare the reporting rates between the two groups. A structured questionnaire was administered to the training participants to assess the challenges affecting surveillance reporting. Results: The average completeness of reporting for the intervention counties increased from 45% to 62%, i.e. by 17 percentage points (95% CI 16.14 - 17.86) compared to an increase from 49% to 52% for the comparison group, i.e. by 3 percentage points (95% CI 2.23-3.77). The timeliness of reporting increased from 30% to 51%, i.e. by 21 percentage points (95% CI 20.16 - 21.84) for the intervention group, compared to an increase from 31% to 38% for the comparison group, i.e.by 7 percentage points (95% CI 6.27-7.73). Major challenges for the low reporting rates included lack of budget support from government, lack of airtime for reporting, health workers strike, health facilities not sending surveillance data, use of wrong denominator to calculate reporting rates and surveillance officers having other competing tasks. Conclusions: Training plays an important role in improving public health surveillance reporting. However, to improve surveillance reporting rates to the desired national targets, other challenges affecting reporting must be identified and addressed accordingly.

scholarly journals Using Poison Center Data for Postdisaster Surveillance

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 521-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Wolkin ◽  
Amy H. Schnall ◽  
Royal Law ◽  
Joshua Schier
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Morbidity And Mortality ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Poison Center ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe role of public health surveillance in disaster response continues to expand as timely, accurate information is needed to mitigate the impact of disasters. Health surveillance after a disaster involves the rapid assessment of the distribution and determinants of disaster-related deaths, illnesses, and injuries in the affected population. Public health disaster surveillance is one mechanism that can provide information to identify health problems faced by the affected population, establish priorities for decision makers, and target interventions to meet specific needs. Public health surveillance traditionally relies on a wide variety of data sources and methods. Poison center (PC) data can serve as data sources of chemical exposures and poisonings during a disaster. In the US, a system of 57 regional PCs serves the entire population. Poison centers respond to poison-related questions from the public, health care professionals, and public health agencies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses PC data during disasters for surveillance of disaster-related toxic exposures and associated illnesses to enhance situational awareness during disaster response and recovery. Poison center data can also be leveraged during a disaster by local and state public health to supplement existing surveillance systems. Augmenting traditional surveillance data (ie, emergency room visits and death records) with other data sources, such as PCs, allows for better characterization of disaster-related morbidity and mortality. Poison center data can be used during a disaster to detect outbreaks, monitor trends, track particular exposures, and characterize the epidemiology of the event. This timely and accurate information can be used to inform public health decision making during a disaster and mitigate future disaster-related morbidity and mortality.WolkinA, SchnallAH, LawR, SchierJ. Using poison center data for postdisaster surveillance. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2014;29(5):1-4.

scholarly journals The Application of Internet-Based Sources for Public Health Surveillance (Infoveillance): Systematic Review

10.2196/13680 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. e13680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joana M Barros ◽  
Jim Duggan ◽  
Dietrich Rebholz-Schuhmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Search Queries ◽  
The Impact

Background Public health surveillance is based on the continuous and systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. This informs the development of early warning systems to monitor epidemics and documents the impact of intervention measures. The introduction of digital data sources, and specifically sources available on the internet, has impacted the field of public health surveillance. New opportunities enabled by the underlying availability and scale of internet-based sources (IBSs) have paved the way for novel approaches for disease surveillance, exploration of health communities, and the study of epidemic dynamics. This field and approach is also known as infodemiology or infoveillance. Objective This review aimed to assess research findings regarding the application of IBSs for public health surveillance (infodemiology or infoveillance). To achieve this, we have presented a comprehensive systematic literature review with a focus on these sources and their limitations, the diseases targeted, and commonly applied methods. Methods A systematic literature review was conducted targeting publications between 2012 and 2018 that leveraged IBSs for public health surveillance, outbreak forecasting, disease characterization, diagnosis prediction, content analysis, and health-topic identification. The search results were filtered according to previously defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results Spanning a total of 162 publications, we determined infectious diseases to be the preferred case study (108/162, 66.7%). Of the eight categories of IBSs (search queries, social media, news, discussion forums, websites, web encyclopedia, and online obituaries), search queries and social media were applied in 95.1% (154/162) of the reviewed publications. We also identified limitations in representativeness and biased user age groups, as well as high susceptibility to media events by search queries, social media, and web encyclopedias. Conclusions IBSs are a valuable proxy to study illnesses affecting the general population; however, it is important to characterize which diseases are best suited for the available sources; the literature shows that the level of engagement among online platforms can be a potential indicator. There is a necessity to understand the population’s online behavior; in addition, the exploration of health information dissemination and its content is significantly unexplored. With this information, we can understand how the population communicates about illnesses online and, in the process, benefit public health.

scholarly journals Use of technology for public health surveillance reporting: opportunities, challenges and lessons learnt from Kenya

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Njeru ◽  
David Kareko ◽  
Ngina Kisangau ◽  
Daniel Langat ◽  
Nzisa Liku ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance Data ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Reporting Rates ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Infectious diseases remain one of the greatest threats to public health globally. Effective public health surveillance systems are therefore needed to provide timely and accurate information for early detection and response. In 2016, Kenya transitioned its surveillance system from a standalone web-based surveillance system to the more sustainable and integrated District Health Information System 2(DHIS2). As part of Global Health Security Agenda(GHSA) initiatives in Kenya, training on use of the new system was conducted among surveillance officers. We evaluated the surveillance indicators during the transition period in order to assess the impact of this training on surveillance metrics and identify challenges affecting reporting rates.Methods From February to May 2017, we analysed surveillance data for 13 intervention and 13 control counties. An intervention county was defined as one that had received a refresher training on DHIS2 while a control county was one that had not received training. We evaluated the impact of the training by analysing completeness and timeliness of reporting 15 weeks before and 12 weeks after the training. A chi-square test was used to compare the reporting rates between the two groups. A structured questionnaire was administered to the training participants to assess the challenges affecting surveillance reporting. A Likert scale was used to grade the challenges.Results The completeness of reporting increased after the training by 17 percentage points (from 45% to 62%) for the intervention group compared to 3 percentage points (49% to 52%) for the control group. Timeliness of reporting increased by 21 percentage points (from 30% to 51%) for the intervention group compared to 7 percentage points (from 31% to 38%) for the control group. Major challenges identified for the low reporting rates included lack of budget support from government, lack of airtime for reporting, health workers strike, health facilities not sending surveillance data, use of wrong denominator to calculate reporting rates and surveillance officers being given other competing tasks.Conclusions Training plays an important role in improving public health surveillance reporting. However, to improve surveillance reporting rates to the desired national targets, other challenges affecting reporting must be identified and addressed accordingly.

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