A GIS-driven integrated real-time surveillance pilot system for national West Nile virus dead bird surveillance in Canada

Background  

An extensive West Nile virus surveillance program of dead birds, mosquitoes, horses, and human infection has been launched as a result of West Nile virus first being reported in Canada in 2001. Some desktop and web GIS have been applied to West Nile virus dead bird surveillance. There have been urgent needs for a comprehensive GIS services and real-time surveillance.     

An integrated national mortality surveillance system for death registration and mortality surveillance,China

In China, sample-based mortality surveillance systems, such as the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s disease surveillance points system and the Ministry of Health’s vital registration system, have been used for decades to provide nationally representative data on health status for health-care decision-making and performance evaluation. However, neither system provided representative mortality and cause-of-death data at the provincial level to inform regional health service needs and policy priorities. Moreover, the systems overlapped to a considerable extent, thereby entailing a duplication of effort. In 2013, the Chinese Government combined these two systems into an integrated national mortality surveillance system to provide a provincially representative picture of total and cause-specific mortality and to accelerate the development of a comprehensive vital registration and mortality surveillance system for the whole country. This new system increased the surveillance population from 6 to 24% of the Chinese population. The number of surveillance points, each of which covered a district or county, increased from 161 to 605. To ensure representativeness at the provincial level, the 605 surveillance points were selected to cover China’s 31 provinces using an iterative method involving multistage stratification that took into account the sociodemographic characteristics of the population. This paper describes the development and operation of the new national mortality surveillance system, which is expected to yield representative provincial estimates of mortality in China for the first time.     

Using entertainment television to build a context for prevention news stories

OBJECTIVE. A nationally syndicated television news series called "Following ER" was developed to educate viewers about the health issues dramatized on "ER," NBC's award-winning medical drama. This study investigated the impact of this prime-time link on viewer attention, satisfaction, information recall, and perceptions about the uses and gratifications delivered by a news story. METHODS: A total of 458 municipal jurors participated in a randomized 2 ("ER" tie-in vs no tie-in) x 2 (familiar vs novel story topic) experiment. The four experimental news stories required by this design were developed using footage of previously aired local newscasts. RESULTS: In the case of the familiar topic story, the "ER" tie-in enhanced the attention and satisfaction of viewers. Participants reported that the prime-time link added value by elevating the importance and relevance of the commonplace topic. However, the "ER" tie-in did not generate any beneficial effects when paired with the novel topic story. CONCLUSIONS: Framing news stories about familiar health concerns in the context of television drama represents a viable strategy for legitimizing them as important and timely topics for public consumption and debate.     

Blueprint for a national public health surveillance system for the 21st century.

This article lays out a blueprint for public health surveillance and assessment for the year 2000 and beyond. The blueprint defines the roles of local, state, and national public health agencies and partners in the medical care system in conducting surveillance and assessment activities. It proposes a new over-arching National Public Health Surveillance System to be the conceptual framework for all public health surveillance and assessment activities into the 21st century.     

中国华支睾吸虫病监测体系的建设与作用

华支睾吸虫病是重要的食源性寄生虫病。中国于2016年初步建立了全国水平的华支睾吸虫病监测体系。本文阐明建立华支睾吸虫病监测体系的必要性,简要介绍了中国华支睾吸虫病监测体系的构成、内容和方法,着重就其中几个关键问题进行了解读,并对下一步发展提出了建议,同时分析了对全球肝吸虫病防控的意义。     

A national surveillance system for newly acquired HIV infection in Australia. National HIV Surveillance Committee.

OBJECTIVES. The purpose of this study was to describe the establishment of a national surveillance system for newly acquired human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and present the first 3 years' results. METHODS. All new cases of diagnosed HIV infection were reported to the national HIV surveillance center through state and territory health authorities. Information sought on each case included evidence of whether the infection had been newly acquired, defined by the diagnosis of HIV seroconversion illness or by the report of a negative or indeterminate HIV antibody test result occurring within the 12 months prior to diagnosis of infection. RESULTS. Of 3602 reported cases of HIV infection in adults and adolescents newly diagnosed in Australia between 1991 and 1993, 11.4% were identified as newly acquired. The majority (85%) of cases of newly diagnosed HIV infection occurred among men who reported homosexual contact, and 15% of these cases were identified as newly acquired. Average age at diagnosis was 31 years for cases of newly acquired infection and 34 years for other cases. CONCLUSIONS. Surveillance for newly acquired HIV infection has been established at a national level in Australia and provides valuable information for planning primary HIV prevention programs.     

A strategy for increasing news media coverage of tobacco and health in Australia

BACKGROUND: In many nations, government fiscal restraint is reducing the ability of public health authorities to mount mass-reach health information advertising campaigns. Strategies for increasing news coverage of health issues, and thereby contributing to policy advocacy, are well recognized, yet under-explored in health promotion research. OBJECTIVE: To increase news coverage of smoking and health issues by issuing media releases about research judged as newsworthy and important in contributing to tobacco control policy debates. METHOD: Research reports selected for their potential newsworthiness were promoted in news releases and their news 'hit rates' in New South Wales (Australia) metropolitan media over 5 weeks were compared with the background coverage of tobacco control issues over the same period. RESULTS: Fifty-eight of 283 (20.5%) news reports on tobacco in the study period were generated by the six media releases. CONCLUSIONS: News reportage of tobacco control and other public health issues can be increased significantly by the strategic use of news releases alerting journalists to research reports that embody recognizable news values. This is an inexpensive strategy with great potential to advance public health objectives.     

Reducing neonatal nosocomial bloodstream infections through participation in a national surveillance system

A national nosocomial surveillance system for neonatal intensive care patients with a very low birthweight was set up in Germany in 2000 (NEO-KISS). Forty-eight neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) participated in the programme, which focused upon nosocomial bloodstream infections (BSIs) and pneumonia. Only data from NICUs participating for at least three years were included and the years compared. The relative risks and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and a multiple logistic regression analysis performed to identify significant risk factors. Twenty-four units that met the selection criteria accumulated data for 3856 patients and 152 437 patient-days in their first three years of participation. The incidence density of BSIs decreased significantly by 24% from 8.3 BSIs per 1000 patient-days in the first year to 6.4 in the third year. In the multiple logistic regression analysis, BSI in the third year of participation was significantly lower than in the first year of participation (odds ratio=0.73, 95% CI 0.60-0.89). The year of participation was an independent risk factor for BSI but not for pneumonia. Our data suggest that participation in ongoing surveillance of nosocomial infections in NICUs, requiring individual units to feedback data, may lead to a reduction in BSI rates.     

Classification of transmission risk in the national HIV/AIDS surveillance system

Risk behavior information is essential for allocating resources and developing effective HIV prevention strategies. Over time, transmission risk information on HIV/AIDS cases has been less likely to be reported to the national surveillance system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) invited approximately 30 experts in HIV/AIDS and behavioral research from state and local health departments, academia, community-based organizations, and the CDC to participate in a consultation in December 2001 to generate ideas on how best to deal with the lack of risk data. The group was charged with providing recommendations on methods for classifying and reporting risk information and for identifying methods and sources for improving ascertainment of transmission risk behaviors for individuals infected with HIV. This report describes the recommendations and the effects of implementing such recommended procedures on the national HIV/AIDS surveillance database.     

全国医院感染监测与数据直报系统的研制及使用

目的探索全国医院感染监测中数据处理和传输的便捷方法。方法利用大型数据库SOL Server 2000和先进的开发工具Delphi 7．0开发了功能强大的医院感染监测与数据直报系统。结果建立了医院感染病例监测系统、手术部位感染监测系统、重症监护室（ICU）感染监测、高危新生儿感染监测、针刺伤及血液、体液职业暴露监测等9个子系统。该系统具有强大的数据存储与运算处理能力，能实现数据共享和网络协同工作，支持众多医院端同时录入数据，实现多台计算机联网。结论该系统成功实现了网络化的数据处理与传输，可建立不同区域医院感染数据平台，实现一个区、市甚至全省和全国的医院感染数据上报和集中管理，提高了工作效率和工作质量。     

A no-name tuberculosis tracking system

Foreign-born persons from countries where tuberculosis (TB) is endemic make up a significant percentage of poultry industry workers in Delaware, a leading poultry-producing state. Many of these workers enter the United States without documentation and assume multiple identities, making it difficult for public health staff to investigate TB contacts who work in the poultry plants. The Sussex County Health Unit of the Delaware Division of Public Health developed a no-name TB tracking system to facilitate identification and treatment of poultry plant workers with TB infection and disease in a high-risk population whose members assume one or more aliases. Completion rates for treatment of latent TB infection in this group increased from 48% to 64% 2 years after the program's implementation.     

Testing the effect of framing and sourcing in health news stories

This study examines whether changing the way news stories report on health can induce shifts in readers' perceptions of problems of obesity, diabetes, immigrant health, and smoking. The authors manipulated two variables in a controlled experiment: the quality of sourcing-the number of sources and their expertise-and the framing-changing from an episodic, traditional frame to a thematic frame that incorporated information on context, risk factors, prevention strategies, and social attributions of responsibility. The authors found that a thematic frame made readers more supportive of public policy changes and encouraged them to improve their own health behaviors. However, it did not alter their attributions of responsibility for health problems from one of blaming individuals to seeing the larger social factors. Adding richer sourcing to the thematic frame did not increase these effects, nor did readers find the thematic stories to be more interesting, relevant, believable, important, and informative. In addition, there were differential results because of story topics that represent uncontrolled effects. The implications for improving health reporting to encourage positive change in society are discussed.