Spatial and spatio-temporal methods for public health surveillance

2012

Public health surveillance provides information to identify public health problems and respond appropriately when they occur. This information is crucial to prevent and control a variety of health conditions such as infectious diseases, chronic diseases, injuries, or health-related behaviors. Quality surveillance is needed to understand the true health status of the population and to guide the use of limited public health resources. Under inadequate surveillance systems, leaders are grossly misinformed and may lose opportunities for the application of early prevention and control measures. In these situations, it is possible the resurgence of previously eradicated diseases or the uncontroll…