National and State Challenges for Electronic Disease Surveillance
Governmental Challenges of Disease Surveillance
Different levels of bureaucracy produce unique challenges. This holds true even in the context of
disease surveillance. The inherent advantages and disadvantages of specific surveillance systems
require each level of government to determine which system will best fulfill its needs.
elect two levels of government (e.g., local, state, regional, or national) and consider the challenges
faced by the two levels in electronically monitoring conditions/diseases.
identify the two levels of government you selected and post an analysis of the challenges they face
when implementing electronic disease surveillance systems. Then explain which challenges are
common and which are unique to the two levels you selected. Consider the similarities and
differences, and propose recommendations to mitigate the challenges.
CHALLENEGS FOR ELECTRONIC DISEASE SURVEILLANCE
National and State Challenges for Electronic Disease Surveillance
The first challenge occurs in the initial stages of implementing the electronic disease
surveillance system: few or no personnel have the necessary knowledge and skills (Noah,
2006). Therefore, governments must begin by training personnel all over the country and
states. At the same time, the trained personnel are frequently sent to remote areas, reducing
the number of skilled personnel in their states.
More challenges arise when implementing the system in rural areas. Most of these
areas have communication are less efficient compared to those in urban areas (Noah, 2006).
Therefore, state and national governments must start by improving all the communication
networks in all rural states. Worse still, many such areas lack modernized diagnostic
laboratories, which hinder the speed of monitoring the diseases. Hence, the authorities must
improve the laboratories first.
Also, epidemiological personnel find it hard moving from the old system to the
electronic system due to the number of piled cases. Medical personnel spent much time
reporting outbreaks and prevalence of diseases (Burdakov, Ukharov & Wahl, 2013). It is, usually,
difficult to clear the many pending cases in the stations before normalizing the operations.
Lastly, the system encompasses many local sites, which must be compared with each
other in determining the most affected areas. It is very difficult for the personnel to compare
data for the purpose of giving preference to some areas. This exercise requires keen
involvement since the personnel must go for very minor details (Noah, 2006).
CHALLENEGS FOR ELECTRONIC DISEASE SURVEILLANCE
National, state, regional and local authorities experience the same challenges in terms
of skilled personnel, the lack of efficient resources in remote areas and the mobility of trained
personnel. On the other hand, only the national and state authorities are affected by the
problem of handling many affected sites. Regional and local governments have relatively
fewer cases due to their geographic sizes (Burdakov, Ukharov & Wahl, 2013). Hence, they easily
compare the prevalence of the diseases in different areas.
Mitigating these challenges requires training enough personnel and improving
diagnostic laboratories and communication networks in every state before introducing the
system. This ensures that the reporting of cases is not hampered by the mobility of personnel
and poor communication networks.
CHALLENEGS FOR ELECTRONIC DISEASE SURVEILLANCE
References
Burdakov, A., Ukharov, A., & Wahl, T. (2013). One Health Surveillance with Electronic
Integrated Disease Surveillance System. Online Journal Of Public Health Informatics,
5(1). doi:10.5210/ojphi.v5i1.4480
Noah, N. (2006). Controlling communicable disease. Maidenhead, England: Open University
Press.
