Types of Surveillance

Disease surveillance is the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data to determine disease trends and patterns. Disease surveillance provides information such as:

• Disease incidence, morbidity, and mortality, and progress in achieving disease control goals
• Changes in patterns of morbidity and mortality among different age groups in different deographical areas and among different economic, social, or cultural groups
• Impact of immunization strategies on disease incidence
• Disease trends

The overriding value of disease surveillance, however, is its use as a tool to identify the presence of infectious diseases and guide actions to prevent them from becoming threats to public health. The following describes the activities required to carry out that function.

Facility-Based Routine Surveillance 

Community-Based Surveillance

Sentinel Surveillance