Training Course on Public Health Surveillance and Informatics

Module 1 – Foundations of Public Health Surveillance
Subtopics:
Definition, objectives, and history of public health surveillance.
Core functions: data collection, analysis, interpretation, dissemination, action.
Types of surveillance: passive, active, sentinel, syndromic, event-based.
Case study: How surveillance systems detected past outbreaks (e.g., COVID-19, Ebola).
Practical Activities:
Exercise: Mapping the surveillance cycle for a selected disease.
Case Review: Strengths and weaknesses of surveillance systems in different regions.

Module 2 – Surveillance Systems and Methodologies
Subtopics:
Designing surveillance systems: goals, populations, data sources.
Laboratory-based, hospital-based, and community-based surveillance.
Syndromic surveillance and early warning systems.
Surveillance indicators and performance evaluation.
Data quality, completeness, and timeliness.
Practical Activities:
Workshop: Drafting a surveillance protocol for a priority disease.
Exercise: Evaluating the performance of an existing surveillance dataset.

Module 3 – Health Informatics in Surveillance
Subtopics:
Role of health informatics in modern surveillance.
Electronic health records (EHRs) and EMRs in disease reporting.
Digital tools: mobile health (mHealth), GIS, and telehealth applications.
Interoperability, data standards (HL7, FHIR), and data integration.
Artificial intelligence and big data analytics in disease prediction.
Practical Activities:
Hands-On Exercise: Building a simple GIS disease map.
Demo: Using an open-source health informatics platform (DHIS2, OpenMRS).

Module 4 – Data Analysis, Visualization, and Communication
Subtopics:
Data analysis for surveillance: descriptive epidemiology, trends, thresholds.
Outbreak detection algorithms and statistical tools.
Data dashboards and visualization platforms (Tableau, Power BI, R Shiny).
Communicating surveillance data to policymakers and the public.
Ethical use of data and avoiding misinterpretation.
Practical Activities:
Workshop: Designing a basic surveillance dashboard.
Exercise: Interpreting surveillance data and writing a short summary report.

Module 5 – Strengthening Surveillance Capacity and Future Directions
Subtopics:
Evaluating and improving existing surveillance systems.
Integrating One Health (human, animal, environment) approaches.
Global surveillance networks (GOARN, GPHIN, ProMED).
Challenges: underreporting, weak infrastructure, data privacy, and trust.
Future trends: real-time surveillance, genomics, wearable sensors.
Practical Activities:
Capstone Project: Designing a national or regional integrated surveillance and informatics framework.
Group Discussion: Balancing innovation with ethical and legal considerations