The Survey Effectiveness of Active Method in Communicable Disease Surveillance

Background and Surveillance is a system of continuing health checks, is considered as a critical part of public health practice for planning and implantation of effective prevention and control interventions for communicable diseases in the region. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of an active method of data collection on the improvement of these diseases surveillance. This research was an interventional study that carried out from January 2011 to January 2013. We surveyed the number of reporting communicable diseases before and after this modification on collecting data in our region and compared them. We changed the method of data collection from passive to active by experts. The collected data analysis was performed by SPSS software using descriptive statistics and independent samples t-test. A total of 763 physicians enrolled, of whom 327 were employed in the health centers non-affiliated to the university. In the centers non-affiliated to the university, the mean reporting from these centers were 12.0 ± 8.7 [95% confidence interval (CI): 11.1-13.0] after the intervention, compared with 2.8 ± 3.7 (95% CI: 2.4-3.2) before the intervention. The mean reporting from affiliated centers did not change considerably after the intervention (11.7 ± 16.1 vs. 12.1 ± 16.3). The mean reporting of both groups in 2012 was significantly different from that in 2011 (P < 0.001). But no difference was observed between mean reporting of two groups throughout 2012 (P = 0.998). We recommend the active method for collecting data of communicable disease, especially from the physicians in centers non-affiliated to the university.