Transforming Public Health Surveillance: Proactive Measures for Prevention, Detection, and Response

Public Health Surveillance (PHS) is of primary importance in this era of emerging health threats like ebola, MERS-CoV, influenza, natural and man-made disasters, and non-communicable diseases. Transforming Public Health Surveillance is a forward-looking, topical, and up-to-date overview of the issues and solutions facing PHS. It describes the realities of the gaps and impediments to efficient and effective PHS, while presenting a vision for its possibilities and promises in the 21st century. The book gives a roadmap to the goal of public health information being available, when it is needed and where it is needed. Led by Professor Scott McNabb, an international team of the top-notch public health experts from academia, government, and non-governmental organizations provides the most complete and current update on this core area of public health practice in a decade in 31 chapters. This includes the key roles PHS plays in achieving the global health security agenda and health equity. The authors provide a global perspective for students and professionals in public health. Five case studies aid the understanding of the context for the lessons of the book, and a comprehensive glossary, questions, bullet points, and learning objectives make this book an excellent tool for the classroom.

• Describes lessons learned in international health crises, the context and development of existing governance documents guiding public health surveillance in the light of global health security concerns, and provides advice on how to construct a modern framework to provide efficient, effective, and equitable global response
• Describes enriched collaborations between military, clinical practice, societies, communities, and governmental and non-governmental organizations and discusses challenges and opportunities
• Describes informatics approaches to enable and support data sharing, analytics, and visualization though interoperability that will adapt to meet the challenges of the changing field of public health surveillance
• Discusses challenges of modern public health surveillance, and discusses potential solutions, and actions and ideas for the way forward
• Describes how transformed surveillance systems can contribute to better monitoring and guiding of the post 2015 development goals and can further progress the universal goal of health equity
• Includes five case studies exploring the lessons of the book under different contexts including Antimicrobial Resistance, MERS-CoV, Pandemic Influenza, Refugee Surveillance, and Measles

Prior to joining the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) and serving the 2-year EIS residency in New Orleans, LA, Dr. McNabb worked for 13 years at the Oklahoma State Health Department. Since 1993, most of his professional efforts have focused on supporting those in underdeveloped, underserved global settings. Before retirement from CDC in 2010, he served as Associate Director for Science; Public Health Informatics and Technology Program Office; Office for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services. From 2006 – 2008, he directed the Division of Integrated Surveillance Systems and Services, National Center for Public Health Informatics, CDC. He is Research Professor and Director of the King Abdullah Fellowship Program (http://kingabdullahfellowship.com) at Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health. Teaching two classes, GH 504 Effective Oral Presentations for Public Health Professionals and GH 592 Successful Scientific Writing for Public Health Professionals, he also teaches in a short-course format: Successful Scientific Writing and Effective Oral Communications and in the University of Michigan Graduate Summer Session. Having mentored 19 students through their M.P.H. or Ph.D., plus 14 fellows through the CDC Public Health Prevention Specialists program, he is jointly appointed in the Hubert Department of Global Health and Department of Epidemiology. He holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Promoted to Distinguished Consultant in 2005 and nominated for the 2005 CDC Charles C. Shepard Award, he completed the 2004 Senior Executive Services (SES) candidate development program and is certified by the Office of Personnel Management. Dr. McNabb serves on the Editorial Board, Epidemiology and Global Health and in private practice as a Board Member of Ascel Bio, LLC; Senior Consultant and Managing Partner, Public Health Practice, LLC (http://www.publichealthpractice.com); and Senior Consultant, Global Strategies, LLC (http://www.global-strategies.net).

Lisa Dwyer Ferland, Public Health Practice, Stockholm, Sweden

Meeyoung Mattie Park, Public Health Practice, Atlanta, GA, USA

Affan T. Shaikh is a public health professional with interests in disease prevention and health systems strengthening. With over seven years of professional experience, Affan’s work engages multilateral stakeholders including inter- and intra- governmental organizations, academic intuitions, NGOs, and communities in building local public health capacities, improving health outcomes, and increasing access. He has worked on the ground across 22 different countries, and during the peak of the MERS-CoV outbreak in Saudi Arabia and following the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone. More recently he has supported the Africa CDC with their COVID-19 response through innovative public health applications. Through his work, Affan is driven to strengthen health systems using evidence-based research. He has had numerous teaching engagements with Emory University, the University of Michigan, and Columbia University, where he has taught courses on public health surveillance, oral communication, and scientific writing.

He has successfully consulted with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, numerous Ministries of Health throughout Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, and the World Health Organization. In addition to consulting, he serves as a Visiting Scientist for the National Academy of Sciences and as an International Board Member to the Saudi Arabia Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Affan holds an MPH in International Health from Boston University and a BA in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Vivek Virendra Singh, Indian Institute of Public Health, Hyderabad, India