2014.ISDS.Abstracts.Final.pdf


ISDS Annual Conference Proceedings 2014. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-
Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, 
and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ISDS 2014 Conference Abstracts

Development of an Infectious Disease Surveillance 
Framework at Public Health Ontario
Tina Badiani* and Brenda Lee

Communicable Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Ontario, Toronto, ON, Canada

Objective
This presentation will outline the development process for Public 

Health Ontario’s (PHO’s) first Infectious Disease Surveillance 
Framework (the framework), highlight key elements of the framework, 
and identify examples of infectious disease (ID) surveillance activities 
and projects that align with the framework.

Introduction
Since its inception in 2008, PHO has grown through new funding 

to establish the agency, as well as a series of program transfers from 
the Government of Ontario, including ID surveillance.1 PHO’s current 
role in ID surveillance in Ontario is to support the public health 
and health care systems with surveillance information, tools, and 
resources for the prevention and control of IDs. PHO also provides 
scientific and technical expertise for IDs, including different aspects 
of surveillance (e.g., data entry requirements, statistical algorithms, 
provincial surveillance reports).

The overarching aim of the framework is to establish PHO’s key 
priorities, strategies, and actions to guide ID surveillance over the 
next five years and will help advance ID surveillance across Ontario. 
This is PHO’s first step towards a strategic and coordinated approach 
to ID surveillance.

Methods
The development process for the framework began with an 

environmental scan to identify: (i) surveillance strategies in other 
jurisdictions, including the key themes, and (ii) approaches taken 
to strategic planning for surveillance. PHO then formed an internal 
steering committee and a working group, with representatives from 
key client groups, including public health units and the health care 
sector. They directed the completion of other preliminary work and 
identified stakeholder consultations as a key step in the development 
process.

Internal consultations were held the summer of 2013, and were 
comprised of a broad range of PHO staff and senior management 
representatives. The external consultations included representatives 
from local public health units (e.g., epidemiologists, program 
managers, and medical officers of health); government representatives 
(e.g., Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Public Health 
Agency of Canada); and health care providers (e.g., infection control 
specialists). During the same period, the steering committee also met 
with the Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committees to elicit 
their recommendations for the framework.

Two members of the steering committee collated and analyzed the 
information collected from the consultations to determine key themes, 
which were reviewed by the steering committee and working groups. 
Once drafted, the framework was further validated and refined 
through an iterative review process with our stakeholders.

Results
During the consultation process, four cross-cutting themes 

repeatedly emerged: 1) improve data quality; 2) enhance data 
integration; 3) develop accessible and timely products and tools; and 
4) strengthen collaboration and capacity building. These four themes

became the priorities of the framework, from which the supporting 
strategies and actions were developed. Some examples of future 
projects that PHO will complete to support the framework include: 
develop standardized questionnaires and case reporting forms; set 
benchmarks for data quality; and evaluate routine ID surveillance 
reports.

Conclusions
With the guidance of staff, management, and clients, PHO has 

developed its first Infectious Disease Surveillance Framework that 
will strategically direct PHO’s ID surveillance initiatives over the 
next five years.

Keywords
Communicable diseases surveillance; Plan of Action; Data quality; 
Collaboration; Data integration

Acknowledgments

PHO: Camille Achonu, Tina Badiani, Ellen Chan, Mark Coulter, Dr. 
Natasha Crowcroft, Lisa Fortuna, Dr. Gary Garber, Corey Green, Dr. 
Frances Jamieson, Dr. Ian Johnson, Brenda Lee, Dr. Liane Macdonald, 
Keisha Mair, Dr. Anna Majury, Alex Marchand-Austin, Sean Marshall, 
Dr. Robert Stirling
Grey Bruce Health Unit/APHEO: Alanna Leffley
MOHLTC: Dr. Erika Bontovics, Melissa Helferty
Sunnybrook Hospital: Sandra Callery
Toronto Public Health/COMOH: Dr. Michael Finkelstein

References

1. Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Public Health
Ontario). Annual report: 2011-2012. Toronto (ON): Queen’s Printer 
for Ontario; 2012. 44.

*Tina Badiani
E-mail: tina.badiani@oahpp.ca    

Online Journal of Public Health Informatics * ISSN 1947-2579 * http://ojphi.org * (1):e108, 201