Surveillance in emergencies
Public health surveillance is the continuous, systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health-related data.
Disease surveillance data:
- serves as an early warning system for impending outbreaks that could become public health emergencies;
- enables monitoring and evaluation of the impact of an intervention, helps track progress towards specified goals; and
- monitors and clarifies the epidemiology of health problems, guiding priority-setting and planning and evaluation public health policy and strategies.
Humanitarian emergencies increase the risk of transmission of infectious diseases and other health conditions such as severe malnutrition. An effective disease surveillance system is essential to detecting disease outbreaks quickly before they spread, cost lives and become difficult to control. Effective surveillance can improve disease outbreak detection in emergency settings, such as in countries in conflict or following a natural disaster.
Surveillance System of Attacks on Healthcare (SSA)
The SSA is a global standardized and systemic approach to collecting data of attacks on health care. This system utilizes the same methodology across countries to address the knowledge gap of the extent and nature of attacks on health care.
WHO Country Offices work closely with partners to ensure there is a wide and inclusive range of reporting contributors.
The SSA will allow for the production of regular reports with consolidated data, identify global and context-specific trends and patterns of violence and allow comparisons between regions and contexts.
To view the SSA please visit http://ssa.who.int
Surveillance by area of work
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