title: Surveillance and response systems for elimination of tropical diseases: summary of a thematic series in Infectious Diseases of Poverty.
abstract: The peer-reviewed journal Infectious Diseases of Poverty provides a new platform to engage with, and disseminate in an open-access format, science outside traditional disciplinary boundaries. The current piece reviews a thematic series on surveillance-response systems for elimination of tropical diseases. Overall, 22 contributions covering a broad array of diseases are featured - i.e. clonorchiasis, dengue, hepatitis, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), H7N9 avian influenza, lymphatic filariasis, malaria, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), rabies, schistosomiasis and tuberculosis (TB). There are five scoping reviews, a commentary, a letter to the editor, an opinion piece and an editorial pertaining to the theme "Elimination of tropical disease through surveillance and response". The remaining 13 articles are original contributions mainly covering (i) drug resistance; (ii) innovation and validation in the field of mathematical modelling; (iii) elimination of infectious diseases; and (iv) social media reports on disease outbreak notifications released by national health authorities. Analysis of the authors' affiliations reveals that scientists from the People's Republic of China (P.R. China) are prominently represented. Possible explanations include the fact that the 2012 and 2014 international conferences pertaining to surveillance-response mechanisms were both hosted by the National Institute of Parasitic Diseases (NIPD) in Shanghai, coupled with P.R. China's growing importance with regard to the control of infectious diseases. Within 4 to 22 months of publication, three of the 22 contributions were viewed more than 10 000 times each. With sustained efforts focusing on relevant and strategic information towards control and elimination of infectious diseases, Infectious Diseases of Poverty has become a leading journal in the field of surveillance and response systems in infectious diseases and beyond.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Medical College of Soochow University, No. 199 Renai Road, Suzhou, 215123, People's Republic of China.|National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 207 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002, Basel, Switzerland.|University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Peiling
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yap
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002, Basel, Switzerland.|University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanner
authors.affiliation: Ingerod 407, S-454 94, Brastad, Sweden.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bergquist
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002, Basel, Switzerland.|University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jürg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Utzinger
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 207 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025, People's Republic of China. ipdzhouxn@sh163.net.|Key Laboratory on Parasite and Vector Biology, Ministry of Health, WHO Collaborating Centre for Topical Diseases, 207 Rui Jin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025, People's Republic of China. ipdzhouxn@sh163.net.
authors.forename: Xiao-Nong
authors.initials: XN
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control; D006308:Health Systems Plans; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D010272:Parasitic Diseases; D011203:Poverty; D062486:Public Health Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D061108:Social Media; D014330:Tropical Medicine / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods
keywords: Elimination; Health systems; Infectious diseases; People’s Republic of China; Surveillance and response systems; Tropical diseases