European Research Project SIDARTHa

Results

Background

Syndromic surveillance can detect health threats earlier than regular reporting systems based on its ability to collect and analyse data from many different sources. Emergency medical service systems and emergency departments across Europe routinely collect electronic data that provides the opportunity to be used for near real-time syndromic surveillance of communicable and non-communicable health threats such as heat-related or influenza-like-illness.

General objective

To contribute to and to enhance the generic preparedness of the health sector for communicable as well as non-communicable health threats by conceptualising, developing, implementing/testing and evaluating a European Emergency Data-based System for Information on, Detection and Anlaysis of Risks and Threats to Health (SIDARTHa).

Expected outcome

Improvment of timeliness and cost-effectiveness of European and national surveillance by providing a basis for systematic syndromic surveillance at the local/regional level that supplements the existing surveillance structures.

Methods and means

The project is divided into two phases. During the conceptualisation phase, information on international state-of-the-art health surveillance and health surveillance practice in Europe will be brought together with the possibilities of emergency data for detection of health threats and the specific public health authority needs for design and features. On this basis the web-GIS-based surveillance system SIDARTHa will be tested and evaluated during the implementation phase.

The project group constitutes a high-level expert panel of health professionals, public health experts and health authority representatives under guidance of the interdisciplinary steering committee that will seek consensus on the surveillance system’s structure and test and evaluate SIDARTHa. A sequence of well focused methods such as expert discussions, Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis of existing procedures, half-standardised surveys to seek input from potential future users, statistical analyses, and geo-processing methods will be applied. During the project time, the future user group of health authorities at local, national and European level will also be informed about the project and invited to actively participate in the development of SIDARTHa to increase the system’s acceptance, integration and maintenance after the project time.