6.3. Types of Surveillance, Periodicity and Management of Information

6.3.1. Types of Surveillance

Passive surveillance is the most common form of surveillance and occurs when laboratories, physicians, or other healthcare providers regularly report cases, diseases, or any other public health information to the local health department or MOH EpiU. These reports are based on standard case definitions for a particular disease or condition. Passive surveillance means that the healthcare provider or laboratory initiates the forwarding of the data to the MOH or Health District.

Active surveillance occurs when the collection of data from the lab, physician, community, or other healthcare provider is initiated by the Health District or EpiU. Active surveillance is often used during the practice of field epidemiology, case, or outbreak investigations, contact tracing or research studies. Active surveillance has an advantage over passive surveillance because it achieves more complete and accurate reporting. However, the draw-back is that it’s more resource intensive for the public health agency that is conducting the active surveillance. It costs more, it takes more personnel, and more time to do active surveillance.

MOH Saint Lucia applies systematically a combination of both - active and passive.