By Akpala, C.o.
paper. I can conficlently say rliat the relationsliip bctwcc~i tlw academic department of
community medicine in UN'I'II anti the Enugu State hlinistry of Ilealtli Im never been this
close. ..-
I have been asked to talk on the "scie~itificb asis of discnsc surveillance". What I hope to
achieve at the end however is to bc ablc to slme in tlic cxperic~iccso f the pi~rticipantsh ere
who at the end of the day are :ictually tllc ones practici~ipd iseilqe survcilla~~cine the field.
Surveilla~~cise one of those public l~cnltllr cr~~li~iologwichsic h has irq origiti in the military
:\nd the security agencies. 'l'lie sccurity ngericics arc cstihlisllctl with tlic primary objcctivc tu
niaintain law and order by dcillitig with both ir~ter~iaaln d cxterml I)rcncll of security. Tllcse
agencies however apprecintc t!ie fact 1 h t a11 Illrci\t$ to the sectrrity of a country are 1101 of
equal dimension. Some Ilave very seriotrs coliscquclices tlint to wait for them to occur before
taking action will be a disastcr.
The security agencies tllerefore try to either pre-elript tlicir occurrcrice or anticipate i t by
quickly denl i~~wgit h the situation as soon as it occurs. 'This is i~cl~icvebdy ~nailitaininga
surveilla~~csey stem wliicli cullects i~l fur~~~atht iaot nh elps the agetrier to preempt brei&x i n
security.
I t is unfortun;lte tliat in this country, we tcnd to adopt a fire Ixigatle appro:\cli to lli~l~dlilig
disasters of wl~ich the suddeli outbrcak of ;I cliscase is as exnnlple. We arc aslecp wllcri the
outbreak occurs. Before we wake up, Ilundrcds of men, women and cliildrcn l w e died. We
then rush to the place wit11 var6nes after tlw cliscase 11:1(1 probably t a ' w its natural course by
wiping out all tliosc who were susceptible. After tliat wc go Imk to slccp.
1-leal111c are services are there, essentially to clisurc the Iwaltli i ~ n t lw ell 11ci:lg ol' the citizetis
by prolnotive, preve~itive,c ur;itivc ant1 rclii~l)ilitnti\~sec rviccs. 'l'lw curativc services take
care of diseases after they Ilave occurrctl. ' 1 ' 1 ~c \~ri\tivcs crvices are licwever unable to cope
in the following situatiot~s:- wl~ere tllcre is an epidetnic; a cliscase is occurring for the first
time: whet\ a disease has a I\i!:ll fatality rate or tlic disease is vcry se.ylcre. Ills of sr~cli
diseases arc yellow fever, ral~ics, nicningitis, clwlera ctc.