Public Health Surveillance
The Public Health Surveillance Program will implement solutions that support the identification, management and control of infectious disease cases and outbreaks that pose a threat to the public's health.
The need for a national network of interoperable communicable disease surveillance systems was highlighted during the last SARS outbreak. With no system in place, healthcare providers and staff at major health centres were reduced to using stick-on notes to keep track of cases and associated contacts. This is neither effective nor acceptable in today's society.
In March 2004, taking into account the lessons learned from the SARS outbreak and public concern about the ability of public health authorities to deal with emerging communicable disease threats, the federal government assigned Infoway the task of developing a communicable disease surveillance system in partnership with the provinces and territories. The system will allow public health authorities to track communicable disease cases and manage outbreaks to minimize impact on the population.
List of Projects
Program Benefits
- Quality
- Safety: Reduced risk of infectious diseases.
- Effectiveness: Improved control of infectious disease outbreaks, resulting in reduced morbidity.
- Appropriateness: Increased speed and accuracy in detecting outbreaks, allowing more timely and appropriate intervention.
- Productivity
- Efficiency: Improved vaccine management.
- Care Coordination: Improved coordination of infectious disease management.
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