The establishment of event-based surveillance system in Thailand, 2011-2013

Abstract

Factors leading to the establishment of an event-based surveillance system include new paradigm of the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) requirements, advances in Information Technology and increased amount of information sharing among the general public. The new system aims at rapid detection of and response to emerging threats while the old one (the so-called indicator-based surveillance system) aims at monitoring the performance and impact of disease control programs. Event-based surveillance systems can be divided into three categories: (1) news aggregator (2) automated type and (3) moderated type. Thailand has been implementing a moderated type system. In 2009, it was determined that surveillance of events would be part of the standard competency of Surveillance and Rapid Response Teams (SRRTs) in Thailand. Subsequently a training of the trainer program was implemented in 2010. Then during 2011-2012, members of sub-district SRRTs, mostly being village health volunteers (VHVs), were trained to report relevant events which occurred in their villages. The event-based surveillance manual for VHVs and the guidelines for members of SRRTs were made available in 2011 and 2013 respectively. The guidelines give details on objectives, definitions, informants development, event reporting, and system processes (capture, filter, verify, signal identification, assessment and response). There is a need to evaluate the effectiveness of the system and operational processes, and to further develop an automated event-based surveillance system.