Tags:
Journalism of Courage
An epidemic intelligence service,to combat outbreaks of illness before they spread,is much needed
Now in its second year of training,Indias so-called epidemic intelligence service EIS,run by the National Centre for Disease Control,frames a welcome effort to equip public health professionals to be the bulwark of the countrys defence system against communicable diseases. Modelled on a US programme of the same name,and a result of the collaboration with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta,Georgia,the EIS will comprise medical professionals trained in the science of tracking down outbreaks of illness as they occur,so as to stop them before they spread,across states.
It is true that many of Indias public health problems could be dramatically reduced with better sanitation,hygiene and clean water. But while old factors driving ill-health persist,India is in a state of epidemiological transition,as evidenced by the emergence of new strains of bacteria immune to antibiotics. As such,it is important that practitioners are able to investigate outbreaks,design and analyse epidemiological studies and evaluate surveillance data,particularly as big data in healthcare becomes ever more useful in generating and suggesting predictive interventions. There is also a global dimension. Seventy five per cent of recently identified emerging infectious diseases affecting humans are zoonotic in nature and are thought to have originated in developing countries. As SARS and H1N1 showed,new and deadly pathogens can quickly overtake the protocols to arrest their spread. The EIS would build Indias capacity to respond to these challenges by equipping healthcare professionals with the epidemiological skills critical for generating evidence,while strengthening reporting systems for both common and unusual diseases.
