Progress with enhancing veterinary surveillance in the United Kingdom.
The UK has experienced various animal health events that have had national impact in recent years. In response, a ;Veterinary Surveillance Strategy' (VSS) was published in 2003, with the objective of enhancing and coordinating national veterinary surveillance practice in a way that would enable important animal health events to be detected and assessed more rapidly and reliably. The VSS adopts an integrated UK-wide approach, which includes widespread engagement with interested parties both within government and beyond. It proposes enhancing surveillance through improved collaboration; transparent and defensible prioritisation of government resources to surveillance; deriving better value from existing resources, and assuring quality of the surveillance reports and source data. This article describes progress with implementing the VSS, in particular the methodology for developing a functional network and creating an effective, quality-assured, information management system, RADAR.
Lysons
R E
RE
New, Endemic and Zoonotic Disease Division, DEFRA, 1A Page Street, London SW1P 4PQ.
Gibbens
J C
JC
Smith
L H
LH
D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011786:Quality Control; D006113:United Kingdom; D014730:Veterinary Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards