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Article: Surveillance
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Public Health
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SURVEILLANCE
Health surveillance is the ongoing, systematic use of routinely collected health data to guide public health action in a timely fashion. Surveillance systems count health events (e.g., deaths from a disease or new cases of a disease) and health services (e.g., visits to a doctor, hospital admissions, vaccination, surgery, provision of prescription drugs) as they occur. Some systems collect information on risk factors related to various diseases, including foods, water supply, drug use, and travel, while other systems measure health behaviors (e.g., smoking, alcohol and drug use, nutrition) and environmental factors (e.g., air, food, or water quality) independently of any ...