A disease surveillance system, for the future
3 years, 3 months ago

A disease surveillance system, for the future

The Hindu  

A defining moment in the history of epidemiology was the removal of the handle of a water pump. The focus under the IDSP was to increase government funding for disease surveillance, strengthen laboratory capacity, train the health workforce and have at least one trained epidemiologist in every district of India. The disease surveillance system and health data recording and reporting systems are key tools in epidemiology; however, these have performed variably in Indian States, as we know now from available analyses, be it seroprevalence-survey findings or the analysis of excess COVID-19 deaths. As per data from the fourth round of sero-survey, Kerala and Maharashtra States could identify one in every six and 12 infections, respectively; while in States such as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, only one in every 100 COVID-19 infections could be detected, pointing towards a weak disease surveillance system. The estimated excess deaths are also higher in those States which have weak disease surveillance systems and the civil registration and vital statistics systems.

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History of this topic

Governments have been steadily dismantling the COVID surveillance system, but is that a backward step?
10 months, 3 weeks ago

Governments have been steadily dismantling the COVID surveillance system, but is that a backward step?

ABC  

If you've tried to look up the number of COVID cases in your area recently, you may have found it a frustrating exercise. The health department says the forecasting was in place for the emergency response phase, and has been ended given that COVID-19 is no longer a "Communicable Disease Incident of National Significance". "It does leave a gap in …

What is ‘Disease X’? Why top experts are warning of another pandemic?
2 years, 5 months ago

What is ‘Disease X’? Why top experts are warning of another pandemic?

Live Mint  

‘Disease X’ is causing much a concern in Britain and accordingly, health experts have urged the government to remain prepared for a new pathogen owing to the fact that the country has seen several infections in the recent past. Medical experts have warned, as reported by The Mirror, “We're living through a new pandemic era, and Disease X’ could be …

There will be another pandemic, infectious disease experts say. Here are 6 ways we can prepare for it
2 years, 6 months ago

There will be another pandemic, infectious disease experts say. Here are 6 ways we can prepare for it

CNN  

CNN — More than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, we have reached a crossroads. “What we don’t want is to have our children, and perhaps our grandchildren, forget what we’ve been through.” Whether we’re going to apply lessons from the current pandemic remains to be seen, Frieden said, but doing so is key to ending that cycle, so that …

Boosting India's surveillance potential for pandemic preparedness
3 years ago

Boosting India's surveillance potential for pandemic preparedness

Hindustan Times  

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues and more variants of Sars-CoV-2 emerge like the Omicron one, each may have the potential to further disrupt public health systems and slow progress to end the pandemic. India recognised the critical need for enhanced surveillance early in the pandemic but like most nations, took time in substantially scaling up of these efforts across the …

What will it take to stay one step ahead of a mutating COVID-19?
3 years, 10 months ago

What will it take to stay one step ahead of a mutating COVID-19?

Al Jazeera  

As new variants of COVID-19 rage around the world, we examine how scientists are fighting to be able to anticipate them – and how this will translate into government policy at home. “What we’re not doing now is looking at how many people are going to the grocery store, or on public transport,” Cobey says – ie, epidemiologists still only …

A year on, mind the gaps in the pandemic response
3 years, 10 months ago

A year on, mind the gaps in the pandemic response

The Hindu  

January 30, 2021 marked one year since India detected its first case of COVID-19 — a student in Kerala who had returned from Wuhan, China. India’s initial response was marked by political commitment at the highest level, with several steps taken early in screening international travellers, restricting inbound traffic from severely affected countries, and preparing quarantine facilities for those testing …

Predictions, pandemics and public health
4 years, 5 months ago

Predictions, pandemics and public health

The Hindu  

Human beings have two remarkable traits, the second of which we had little reason to suspect that we possessed until the rise of new technologies such as the Internet. If one tenth of the anticipatory gifts we have that seem to be exploited for immediate private gain on the part of corporations and investment bankers were put to use in …

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