Mapping disease alerts in the Pacific

Noumea

The Pacific Community (SPC) has been producing a weekly disease alerts map for the Pacific for the past three years.

More than 180 alerts of epidemic and emerging diseases have been highlighted on the map since August 2014 when it was first launched.

The map is primarily meant to provide health professionals from the region and beyond with an up-to-date picture of epidemic and emerging diseases ‒such as dengue fever or influenza‒ which are circulating in the Pacific.

It has been developed to assist health professionals working in public health surveillance, risk assessment, communicable diseases preparedness and outbreak response.

At the beginning of each week, the map is updated and published in two formats: a PDF version produced in English and French, and an interactive version accessible online.

Both versions of the map are disseminated by email to more than 1 000 health professionals, including members of the Pacific Public Health Surveillance Network (PPHSN) and individuals and institutions outside of the region.

Feedback from PPHSN members, who receive the map, is very positive. The results of a survey conducted at the end of 2016 showed that PPHSN recipients see it as a very useful tool. Ninety-seven per cent (97%) of the survey respondents said that they use the map in their current work and 92% found that the information provided on the map meets their expectations.

The web interface of the interactive map allows users to visualise the alerts in different ways, i.e. by country, disease, type of transmission and over time.

It is located at: www.spc.int/phd/epidemics/

For further information, please contact Christelle Lepers, Surveillance Information and Communication Officer in SPC’s Public Health Division – Email: [email protected]

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