Evaluating public heath surveillance systems : the case of the enhanced meningitis surveillance system, Ghana /
Public health surveillance is the continuous, systematic collection, collation, and analysis of health-related data; the interpretation of the results obtained and dissemination of information to stakeholders who must know in order that prompt and appropriate public health actions would be taken to...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
London :
SAGE Publications Ltd,
2020.
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| Series: | SAGE Research Methods Cases: Medicine and Health.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | Public health surveillance is the continuous, systematic collection, collation, and analysis of health-related data; the interpretation of the results obtained and dissemination of information to stakeholders who must know in order that prompt and appropriate public health actions would be taken to reduce morbidity and mortality, and to improve wellbeing. This process entails the collaboration of many stakeholders from the community level to the top management hierarchy of the health system who work in a systematic and complementary manner to promote public health security. Evaluating a surveillance system is a systematic process. First, identify and engage stakeholders at all levels to obtain inputs, reinforce ownership, and to ensure that all relevant questions on the operation of the system are addressed. Second, describe the system to be evaluated in terms of its public health importance, operation, and the resources used to operate it. Third, focus the design by predetermining the direction and process of the evaluation. This task will entail outlining the specific objectives of the evaluation, identifying stakeholders who will be responsible for implementing recommendations from evaluation findings, anticipating what will be done with information generated from the evaluation, specifying questions that would be answered by the evaluation, and setting standards for assessing the performance of the system. Fourth, obtain credible evidence on the performance of the system--indicating the level of usefulness of the system, and assess each of the nine surveillance system attributes. Fifth, synthesize the evidence gathered to draw conclusions, and make targeted recommendations to appropriate stakeholders. Sixth, disseminate findings to the wide public health community to share lessons learned as these may be useful in other settings. We share the methods used and experiences gained in evaluating the enhanced meningitis surveillance system in Ghana. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781529723663 1529723663 |