Part 2 - Public Health Response in Health Crisis and Disasters Flashcards
(56 cards)
1
Q
What are key components in response to an epidemic outbreak?
A
- Community sensitization
- Case management
- Vaccination
- Contact tracing & case finding
- Epidemiological surveillance
- Safe management of dead bodies
- Ensure regular HC
- At all levels IPC
2
Q
What is the vaccine coverage & herd immunity threshold?
A
greater the R-0 = higher vaccination coverage must be to ensure herd immunity (or stop an outbreak)
3
Q
What is the practical organisation of mass vacc campaign?
A
- Ordering equipment
- establishing the cold chain (e.g. sensitive to heat, sunlight, freezing?)
- forming teams
- selection of sites
- community enaggeemtn & awarenmess
- vaccinnation
- waste disposal
- evaluation
4
Q
What is epidemiological surveillance?
A
Systematic & ongoing collection, analysis & interpretation of health data
5
Q
Why do we do epidemiologic surveillance?
A
- For planning, implementation & evaluation of PH interventions
- Enables early detection of outbreaks & rapid response
6
Q
When is epidemiologic surveillance critical?
A
- in time of outbreak
- in time of conflicts & disasters when health systems are disrupted
7
Q
What are the types of epidemiological surveillance?
A
- Passive surveillance
- Active surveillance
- Syndromic surveillance - based on symptoms
- Event-based surveillance
- Community-based surveillance
8
Q
What is passive surveillance?
A
- Routine reporting from health facilities
- Relies on already-diagnosed cases
9
Q
What are the strengths of passive surveillance?
A
- Low cost
- Works in stable systems
10
Q
What are the limitations of passive surveillance?
A
- Health facilities destroyed or inaccessible
- Staff shortage
- Delays in reporting = delayed response
11
Q
What is active surveillance?
A
- Trained teams acrtively seek data (visits, calls, line-list reviews)
12
Q
When is active surveillance used?
A
- outbreak investigation
- contact tracing
- vaccination campaigns
13
Q
What are the strenghts of active surveillance?
A
- More complete & timely
- Detects unreported cases
14
Q
What are the weaknesses of active surveillance?
A
- Resource-heavy (staff, transport, coordination)
- Dangerous in conflict zones
15
Q
What is syndromic surveillance?
A
- Track symptom clusters: fever + rash, diarrhea, cough + shortness of breath
- Used where lab confirmation is delayed or unavaialbele
16
Q
What are the strengths of syndromic surveillance?
A
- Early warning - fast signals
- Can run without diagnostics
17
Q
What are the limitations of syndromic surveillance?
A
- Not specific → high false positives
- Needs skilled interpretation to avoid panic
18
Q
What is event-based surveillance?
A
- Uses informal sources: social media, news, community rumors, radio, local NGOs
- Often the first signal of an outbreak
19
Q
What are the stregnths of event based surveillance?
A
- Rapid, non-traditional
- Fills gaps when formal systems fail
20
Q
What are the limitations of event-based surveillance?
A
- Verification can be difficult
- Risk of misinformation
21
Q
What are common sources used in event based surveillance?
A
- Social media (Twitter, Facebook)
- Local news
- Community rumors
- SMS alerts
- Health worker “whispers”
- NGO or volunteer observations
22
Q
What is community based surveillance?
A
- Trains community volunteers to recognize/report signs of disease or death
- Critical in remote or insecure areas
23
Q
What are the strengths of community-based surveillance?
A
- Builds trust
- Real-time local information
- Reaches where systems can’t
24
Q
What are the limitations of community-based surveillance?
A
- Needs training and support
- Can be inconsistent
25
What is sentinel surveillance?
* Uses selected "sentinel" sites (clinics, hospitals, labs) to report specific health condition
* Tracks trends over time, disease burden, and vaccine-preventable disease monito
26
What are the strengths of sentinel surveillance?
* Quality data from trained, reliable sites
* Less resource-intensive than national systems
* Useful for tracking long-term trends
27
What are the limitations of sentinel surveillance?
* Not representative of the whole population
* Misses outbreaks in non-sentinel areas
* Sites may be disrupted in conflict
28
What is the role of CDC?
| how to control outbreak
* Act as national and regional hubs for surveillance, response, and capacity building.
* Work with WHO and governments to ensure IHR compliance.
* Provide technical expertise, funding, and rapid response teams during outbreaks
29
How does CDC contribute surveillance?
* surveillance & early detection
* communication with WHO
* rapid response & control
* capacity building
* regional coordination
30
What are the challenges of disease surveillance in conflict zones?
| Why IHR difficult in war & crisis?
* health system collapse
* limited outbreak reporting
* restricted access
* population displacement
* weakened vaccination programme
31
What is EWARS?
* Developed by WHO to track outbreaks in emergencies and fragile states.
* Uses simplified reporting
* Focus on epidemic-prone diseases
* Implemented in crisis zones
* Fast response triggers
32
How can we surveil diseases in conflict areas?
EWARS - Early Warning, Alert, and Response System
33
What is an endemic?
consistently present but limited to a particular region
34
What is an epidemic?
* unexpected increase in the number of disease cases in a specific geographical area.
* outbreak over a larger geographic area
35
What is a pandemic?
when a disease’s growth is exponential. each day more cases
36
What is an outbreak?
noticeable, often smalll increase over expected number of cases. e.g. covid in wuhan was outbreak
37
What is outbreak investigation?
systematic process of identifying the cause, scope, and source of a disease outbreak.
38
What is the importance of outbreak investigation in crisis settings?
critical tool for limiting disease transmission and preventing further morbidity and mortality.
39
How can we control the outbreak?
* Implement immediate control measures (isolation, water sanitation, vaccination).
* Plan long-term prevention.
* Communicate with the public & stakeholders.
40
What is a point source outbreak?
* single, brief exposure to a common source.
* cases rise sharply & fall rapidly
* e.g. food poisoning at a single event
41
What is continous common source outbreak?
* ongoing exposure over extended period
* case numbers plateau or gradually increase then decrease
* e.g. contaminated water supply used for days or weeks
42
What is a propagated outbreak?
* person-to-person transmission
* multiple waves of cases, spaced by incubation periods
* e.g. measels, covid, infleunza
43
What is intermittent common source outbreaks?
* repeated exposure to a contamined source at irrregular intervals
* multiple seperated peaks with periods of no cases
* e.g. water contamination following peirodic rainfall or failing infrastructure. relation to seasonality
44
What is mixed outbreak pattern?
- begins with a common source exposure, followed by person-to person transmission
- intiial sharp peak followed by smaller waves
- e.g. goodborne outbreak at event then spreading within households
45
What are the types of outbreaks?
1. Point source outbreak
2. Continous common source outbreak
3. Propagated outbreak
4. Intermittent common source outbreak
5. Mixed outbreak pattern
46
What are challenges in field outbreak investigations?
- inaccesible areas
- poor surveillance systems
- community distrust & resistance
- lack of laboratory capacity
- politicization of outbreaks
- shortage of skilled personnel
- coordination failures
- cultural barriers
- data quality issues
47
What is infection prevention control?
practical, evidence-based approach preventing patients & health workers from being harmed by avoidable infections.
48
What is the different between IPC & CD programmes?
* IPC focuses on preventing & controlling spread of infection within the healthcare facilities and thereby protecting both the healthcare seeker and the staff.
* Focus on preventing and controlling specific communicable diseases **within the community** and thereby protecting the general population.
49
What is the relation between healthcare associated infection (HAI) & AMR?
* HAI interacts with AMR → one of top 10 GPH threats
* HAIs can lead to the overuse & misuse of antibiotics contributing to the development of AMR
* AMR can spread through HAIs to other patients, increasing the burden
50
What is the WHO IPC programme?
* Respiratory- and hand hygiene
* Injection safety
* PPE
* Environmental cleaning, waste and linen management
* Proper use of materials; single-items, re-usable items and desinfection
* Demands close collaboration with: WASH & AMR guidelines
51
What arew the 5 main areas of wash?
* Water
* Sanitation
* Hygiene
* Environmental cleaning
* Waste management
52
What is biosafety?
All processes, procedures, and preventive measures implemented to reduce (or eliminate) the risk of transmission of XX within exposed populations.
53
What does biosafety include?
monitoring, best practices, training, supervision, regular monitoring and reactive measures.
54
What are the standard precautions for IPC in hospitals?
* Hand hygiene
* Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
* Prevention of needlestick injuries
* Surface cleaning and disinfection
* Processing of reusable (medical) products
* Waste management
55
How can you reduce the risk of spreading infection in the hospital -during an outbreak?
* Understand and apply proper infection control measures throughout the hospital (not just at the entrance)
* Case identification (pre-admission and admission + during treatment in hospital)
* Isolation of suspected cases
* Good IPC
* Hand hygiene
* Precautions by default
* Cleaning and disinfection (environment and equipment)
56
