Epidemiological

Approach,
Surveillance and
Health Informatics
By: Rabiu Hassan
Musa

EPIDEMIOLOGY
Definition
Epidemiology is the study of the
distribution and determinants of
health related states or events in a
specified populations and the
application of this study to control
the health problems

AIMS OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
To describe the distribution and
magnitude of health and disease
problems in human population
To identify the etiological factors in
the pathogenesis of the disease
To provide the data essential for
planning, implementation, evaluation
of services for the prevention,
control and to the setting up of
priorities among those services

OBJECTIVES OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
To identify the etiology of the disease
To determine the extent of the disease
To study the natural history and
prognosis of the disease
To evaluate therapeutic measures
To provide the foundation for
developing public policy relating to
environmental problems

COMPONENTS OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
Disease frequency
Distribution of disease
Determinants of disease

CHARACTERISTIC OF
EPIDEMIOLOGY
It is concerned with the frequency and
type of illnesses and injuries in groups
of peoples and factors that influence
their distribution
It implies that the disease is not
randomly distributed throughout a
population, but rather that sub groups
differ with the frequency of different
diseases

 Knowledge of this uneven distribution

can be used to investigate causal
factors and thus to lay the grand work
for programs of prevention and
control
It can similarly be used to study
consequences of different treatments
The best epidemiology will be one
that captures the causal effect of
interest with minimal error

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL APPROACH
Counting cases or health events
Dividing the number of cases to
calculate rates
Comparing the rates

USES OF EPIDEMIOLOGY

Assessing the community health

Making individual decision
Completing the clinical picture
Searching for causes
Public health surveillance
Field investigation
Analytic studies
Evaluation
Linkages
Policy development

LEVELS OF PREVENTION

Primordial Prevention
Primary Prevention
Secondary Prevention
Tertiary Prevention

ROLE OF A NURSE IN
EPIDEMIOLOGY
Preventive role
Promotive role
Curative role
Rehabilitative role

HEALTH SURVEILLANCE
Definition
The centre for disease control and
prevention (CDC) defined epidemiologic
surveillance as the ongoing systematic
collection, analysis and interpretation of
health data essential for planning,
implementation and evaluation of public
Health Practice closely integrated with
the timely dissemination of these data to
those who need to know

PURPOSE OF SURVEILLANCE

o To follow trends in the health status

of a population over time
o To detect and responds to epidemics
o To establish health care and public
health priorities
o To evaluate the effectiveness of
health programs and services
o To facilitate the prevention and
control of disease

o To identify persons with disease, in order

to provide treatment and quarantine
o To exclude person not having disease
o To assist in planning and implementation
of health programs
o To monitor the quality of health care
o To stimulate research

LEVELS OF SURVEILLANCE
Individual/family surveillance
Community/Local population
surveillance
National surveillance
International surveillance

OBJECTIVES OF SURVEILLANCE
Continuous data collection and
evaluation
Identifying the target population
A standard definition of the out come of
the interest
Emphasis on the timeliness of
collection and dissemination of
information
Use of data for purpose of investigation
and control

GOALS OF SURVEILLANCE
Identification of pattern of disease
occurrence
Detection of disease outbreaks
Development of clues about
possible risk factors
Finding a case for further
investigation
Anticipation of health service needs

TYPES OF SURVEILLANCE
Passive surveillance
Active surveillance
Sentinel surveillance

PROCESS OF HEALTH
SURVEILLANCE

1. Collection of relevant information about

the disease under surveillance
a)Routine reporting of cases and death
recorded at health centers, dispensaries
and hospitals
b)Active surveillance
c)Epidemiologic investigations
d)Sentinel centers
e) Special sample survey

2. Compilation and analysis of data

3. Reporting of data and providing
feedback

USES OF HEALTH SURVEILLANCE

Detect epidemics
Facilitate planning
Evaluate programs
Monitor changes in infectious agents
Estimate magnitude of problems
Determine geographic distribution of
illness
Portray a natural history of disease

HEALTH INFORMATICS

Definition

Health informatics can be defined as

a mechanism for the collection,
processing, analysis and
transmission of information required
for organizing and operating health
services and also for research and
training

OBJECTIVES
To provide relevant, reliable, up-todate, adequate, timely and
reasonably complete information
for health managers at all levels
To share technical and scientific
information by all health personnel
participating in the health services
of the country

 To provide at periodic intervals the

data that will show the general
performance of the health services
To assist planners in studying their
current functioning and trends in
demand and workloads

REQUIREMENTS TO BE SATISFIED
BY HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEM
System should be population based
System should avoid the unnecessary
agglomeration of data
System should be problem oriented
System should employ functional and
operational terms
System should express information briefly and
imaginatively
System should make provision for feed back of
data

COMPONENTS OF HEALTH
INFORMATION SYSTEM
Demography and vital events
Environmental health statistics
Health status, mortality, morbidity,
disability and quality of life
Health resources
Utilization and non utilization of health
services
Indices of outcome of medical care
Financial statistics

USES OF HEALTH INFORMATICS

To measure the health status of the
peoples and to qualify their health
problems and medical and health care
needs
For local, national and international
comparisons of health status
For planning, administration and
effective management of health services
and programmes

 For asserting the attitudes and

degree of satisfaction of the
beneficiaries with the health
system
For research in to particular
problems of health and disease

SOURCES OF HEALTH
INFORMATION
Census
Registration of vital events
Sample registration system
Notification of disease
Hospital records
Disease registers
Record linkage
Epidemiological surveillance

 Other health service records

Environmental health data
Health and man power statistics
Population surveys
Other routine statistics
Non quantifiable information