A project being developed by the Ministry of Health, Environment and Nature (HEN) of Curaçao is creating an electronic system that physicians and health care institutions can use for timely, consistent and correct reporting of causes of death and communicable diseases. The project, one of the winners of the winners of the call for proposals for the implementation of IS4H projects promoted by the Pan American Health Organization, will have electronic forms for reporting on causes of death and communicable diseases, an interactive dashboard to make the results of reporting visible and valuable for the individual physician, and a dissemination strategy, including organizational structure and governance.
Like many countries, Curaçao cannot draw upon a reliable and continuous flow of accurate vital statistics because reporting systems are weak or dysfunctional. It is hard to determine the exact reason(s) why physicians fail to comply with mandatory reporting on both causes of death and communicable diseases, but it seems to be a combination of lack of awareness, knowledge, time, organization, tools and (most importantly) the perceived value of reporting.
When it come to public health, decision makers depend on timely, accurate and consistent flows of data and statistics for policy development as well as for program monitoring and evaluation. This project aims for optimal compliance in reporting of causes of all deaths and mandatory reporting of communicable diseases, such as STDs, HIV & Aids and mosquito-borne diseases. The analysis of mortality trends is crucial for developing effective health, social security, and other types of policies. The reliability and usefulness of these analyses is highly dependent on the completeness and quality of the data.
Effective public health surveillance is critical for the early detection and prevention of epidemics. There is a clear and urgent need for surveillance of known existing communicable diseases, especially those with high epidemic potential, early recognition of new infections and monitoring the growing resistance to antimicrobial drug. This project estimulates compliance of mandatory reporting by making it feasible in daily practice, with electronic forms and interactive dashboards to make the results of reports readily available, visible and valuable for the reporting physicians.
