Publication: Public Health Surveillance Toolkit : A Guide for Busy Task Managers
Loading...
Published
2002-02
ISSN
Date
2014-12-18
Editor(s)
Abstract
This toolkit draws on the expertise of public health practitioners who have experience with public health surveillance and who have recognized the core role of surveillance in public health. These practitioners have advocated for surveillance programs, supplied innovative ideas, and provided insightful critiques over many years. This toolkit also draws on the experience of Bank staff and technical experts from the PAHO and the CDC who have contributed to Bank missions. The toolkit also makes use of WHO references, primarily those from the WHO s Web site. Part A of this toolkit provides some theoretical concepts, and knowledge about surveillance that has been gained through applying these concepts and the practice of surveillance in developing countries. Part B provides information that will be useful to Task Managers as they prepare loans for strengthening public health surveillance systems. Several World Bank experiences are shared. The focus of part B is on practical aspects of surveillance and on lessons learned.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Garcia-Abreu, Anabela; Halperin, William; Danel, Isabella. 2002. Public Health Surveillance Toolkit : A Guide for Busy Task Managers. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20817 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Blood Services in Central Asian Health Systems : A Clear and Present Danger of Spreading HIV/AIDS and Other Infectious Diseases(Washington, DC, 2008-05)The report discusses inter-related parts of blood transfusions systems, and presents an overview of the parts that need to be strengthened in Central Asia. Numerous parts are in serious need of organizational restructuring, new investment and increased budgetary support for operation and maintenance. This report sets them out such that each can be addressed in turn and some simultaneously. The report also discusses the health threat posed by alarmingly low levels of blood supplies, fostered by a culture that places little value on donating blood, public fear of being infected by giving blood, and the near absence of donor promotion campaigns.Publication Blood Services in Central Asian Health Systems : A Clear and Present Danger of Spreading HIV/AIDS and Other Infectious Diseases(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-05)The report discusses inter-related parts of blood transfusions systems, and presents an overview of the parts that need to be strengthened in Central Asia. Numerous parts are in serious need of organizational restructuring, new investment and increased budgetary support for operation and maintenance. This report sets them out such that each can be addressed in turn and some simultaneously. The report also discusses the health threat posed by alarmingly low levels of blood supplies, fostered by a culture that places little value on donating blood, public fear of being infected by giving blood, and the near absence of donor promotion campaigns.Publication Surveillance(Washington, DC, 2006-05)Health surveillance is the ongoing systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health data essential for planning, implementing, and evaluating public health activities, closely integrated with timely dissemination of the data to enable effective and efficient action to be taken to prevent and control disease. The scope of surveillance is broad, from early warning systems for rapid response in the case of communicable diseases to planned response in the case of non-communicable diseases, where the lag time between exposure and disease is longer than for communicable diseases. Most countries have laws or regulations on mandatory reporting of a list of conditions determined by each country, primarily communicable diseases such as childhood vaccine-preventable diseases (polio, measles, tetanus, and diphtheria), TB, hepatitis, meningitis, and leprosy. Relatively small investments can be very effective in reducing death, disease, and disability. Surveillance can make the health system more effective and efficient, and better able to control devastating epidemics. It can lead to early detection of local epidemics when control is more effective, less costly, and involves less loss of life. Surveillance is also important for controlling and preventing endemic diseases that reduce productivity and can be costly to manage. Good surveillance systems permit early identification of diseases such as TB and syphilis that can be cured easily with low-cost treatments, combined with other public health actions.Publication Health Equity and Financial Protection in Ghana(Washington, DC, 2012-05-21)The health equity and financial protection reports are short country-specific volumes that provide a picture of equity and financial protection in the health sectors of low-and middle-income countries. Topics covered include: inequalities in health outcomes, health behavior and health care utilization; benefit incidence analysis; financial protection; and the progressivity of health care financing. Ghana's government is committed to improving equity and financial protection in the health sector. In 2005, the Government of Ghana amended its growth and poverty reduction strategy report to include a new target in the country's development: to reach middle income status by the year 2015 (Republic of Ghana 2005). Ghana's Minister of health has called attention to the role that health plays in economic development and has placed equity in both access and delivery of health services as a top priority for reaching middle income status (Ministry of health 2007). Ghana spends 8.1 per cent (2009) of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health. This is greater than the spending levels in other lower middle-income countries in Africa, which spend an average of 5.8 per cent (2009) of their GDP on health. Ghana provides free health services for certain vulnerable groups, such as children under five, people over 70, and pregnant women. In addition, immunization and services to combat certain communicable diseases are provided free of charge.Publication How Might India’s Public Health Systems Be Strengthened?(2009-11-01)The central government s policies, though well-intentioned, have inadvertently de-emphasized environmental health and other preventive public health services in India since the 1950s, when it was decided to amalgamate the medical and public health services and to focus public health services largely on single-issue programs. This paper discusses how successive policy decisions have diminished the Health Ministry s capacity for stewardship of the nation s public health. These decisions have introduced policies and fiscal incentives that have inadvertently enabled states to prioritize medical services and single-issue programs over broader public health services, and diminished the capacity of the public health workforce to deliver public health services. Diseases resulting from poor environmental health conditions continue to impose high costs even among the more affluent, and hinder development. There are many approaches to strengthening the public health system, and the authors suggest one that may require relatively little modification of existing structures and systems. They suggest establishing a focal point in the Health Ministry for public health stewardship, and re-vitalizing the states public health managerial cadres as well as the grassroots public health workers. The central government could consider linking its fiscal support to states with phased progress in four areas: (1) the enactment of state Public Health Acts; (2) the establishment by states of separate public health directorates; (3) the re-vitalization of grassroots public health workers; and (4) health department engagement in ensuring municipal public health. The central focal point could provide the needed support, oversight, incentives, and sanctions to ensure that states build robust public health systems. These measures can do much to help governments use public funds more effectively for protecting people s health.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Brazil Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank Group, Washington DC, 2023-05-04)Brazil is highly exposed to climate change risks. The impacts of global climate change risks and local practices on the Amazon and Cerrado biomes are of particular concern, as they provide vital ecosystem services to Brazil, the South American region, and the world. The Brazil Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) examines the implications of climate change and climate action for Brazil's development objectives and priorities. It identifies opportunities for Brazil to achieve both its development goals and its climate commitments. It lays out a combination of sectoral and economy-wide policy reforms, as well as targeted investments in near- and medium-term mitigation and adaptation measures to achieve more rapid and inclusive development with lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The idea is to maximize synergies between climate and development objectives, while addressing trade-offs among policy objectives and key transition challenges.Publication Benin Country Climate and Development Report(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-12-05)This Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) proposes that Benin focuses on building a resilient economy, with investment and policy options primarily targeted at adapting to climate change risks. The dependence of Benin’s economic structure on agriculture and informal employment makes its development path highly vulnerable to climate change in the absence of proper adaptation. The government and the private sector need to be better prepared to deal with climate change – building adequate institutions and governance structures will be crucial. While all sectors will have to become more resilient, this is especially urgent for agriculture and land use, urban and network infrastructure, and human development (education, health). Mitigation efforts should focus on avoiding carbon lock-ins and reducing deforestation. Investing in renewable energy whilst expanding the population’s access to electricity should be a priority for Benin. A higher share of renewable energy can bring about co-benefits for other sectors (agriculture, water, transport, and forestry). To maintain its growth trajectory, Benin needs to pay special attention to its most vulnerable people, including women. To protect the poor and vulnerable the just transition should focus on reconciling development and climate goals while addressing inequality (income and gender related), and spatial exclusion.Publication Learning from Self and Learning from Others(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-08-16)Can decentralizing demonstration accelerate learning about new technologies This paper randomizes access to a fixed demonstration kit for new flood-saline-resilient seeds across villages in Bangladesh, with demonstration either by a single farmer or spread across many farmers. In the short run, higher learning from self and others under decentralization increases technology adoption. In the long run, the impacts of any demonstration persist, but the additional impacts of decentralization vanish. A Bayesian model of learning the returns to a new technology suggests belief dispersion caused noisy adoption along the learning path, and farmers’ expected gains from demonstration are four times higher under decentralization.Publication A Guide to Assessing Needs : Essential Tools for Collecting Information, Making Decisions, and Achieving Development Results(World Bank, 2012-01-06)This book will benefit people and teams involved in planning and decision making. On the basis of their pragmatic value in guiding decisions, needs assessments are used in various professions and settings from emergency rooms to corporate boardrooms to guide decision making. Nonetheless, although needs assessments have many different applications, in this book on needs assessments as they are applied in organizations to accomplish results, as opposed to their use in personal decisions or medical triage. This book, in turn, is guide to assessing needs and then making essential decisions about what to do next. This book filled with practical strategies, tools, and guides covers both large-scale, formal needs assessments and less-formal assessments that guide daily decisions. Included in the book is a blend of rigorous methods and realistic tools that can help make informed and reasoned decisions. Together, these methods and tools offer a comprehensive, yet realistic, approach to identifying needs and selecting among alternative ways as go forward. Sections one and two offer quick, yet full, answers to many frequently asked questions regarding how to make justifiable decisions. Next, section three examines a variety of tools and techniques that can be used for both collecting information and making decisions. Appendix A then offers a number of checklists and guides for managing the systematic assessment processes that lead to quality decisions. Finally, the reference list at the end of the book is a valuable resource to research, tools, and discussions of needs assessment.Publication Strengthening Regional Water Security for Greater Resilience in the G5 Sahel(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-07-12)The World Bank’s historical engagement in transboundary water in West Africa is at a turning point, at a time when the G5 Sahel region faces unprecedented challenges. Therefore, it is time for the World Bank to broaden its water sector approach in the G5 Sahel and shift its focus to establishing a regional water security framework. The dual objectives of this report on the G5 Sahel region are to: (i) do a high-level analysis of water security challenges and their impacts on regional socio-economic development and stability, and (ii) suggest directions for future World Bank engagement on regional water security. The focus of this note is more exclusively on regional water challenges and local challenges with cross-border or even regional spillover effects. The report takes a development-driven approach to: (i) identify some of the ways in which water security affects socio-economic development in the G5 Sahel, (ii) explore the linkages between water security, resilience and conflict prevention, and (iii) present a set of guiding principles for the next regional engagements on water security in the region, both in terms of types of investment and implementation modalities. This report will also serve as a basis for deepening the dialogue with counterparts in the next fiscal year.