Epidemiological and community health surveillance

Epidemiological and community health surveillance
2021. Analysis of community health events with the association AATAC (Asociación de Autoridades tradicionales Aledañas a la Carretera, Association of Traditional Authorities Adjacent to the Road) in the Department of Vaupés, Colombia. Photo: Edilma Bastidas © Sinergias ONG

Epidemiological and community health surveillance

Knowing what is happening with the health situation in a community is essential to make decisions and act in a timely manner to prevent preventable problems from escalating. Currently, after the experience we lived with the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, everyone is aware of the importance of monitoring important events in public health. These events generally refer to a series of infectious diseases that are serious and/or highly contagious with the capacity to severely affect certain population groups. Additionally, more and more psychosocial events are being monitored within public health surveillance systems, such as gender-based violence or suicides.

For this to work, it is necessary that there are people who report the cases, that there are communication systems that allow them to be notified, an information system with which it is possible to know if what is being reported is part of what is normal or if it falls outside those parameters, and a health system that can respond in a timely manner to study the cases and take the necessary measures to control or mitigate the problems detected locally and regionally if necessary.

But what can be done in this context when these basic conditions are lacking for the surveillance system we know to work? What are the issues that need to be monitored according to the indigenous knowledge system? What role should indigenous communities and organizations play? What can the institution do? Can community health surveillance be done? What skills are required for it? What are the measures that traditional authorities and families can take to control or mitigate the problems detected? What are the problems that should invariably be reported to the institutions? How can they communicate with the institutions? What are the protection measures that must be guaranteed so that the people who assume surveillance in the communities are not affected?

This is the reality faced by most of the dispersed rural communities in the country. Regarding this component, the main challenge that we have faced together with these populations has been to generate community surveillance processes in which the communities periodically discuss their health situation and have the tools to analyze the problems they consider to be a priority in order to make the required decisions in a participatory manner. Likewise, to generate routes to inform the institutions and manage their response when necessary.