Opportunities to strengthen respiratory virus surveillance systems in Australia: lessons learned from the COVID-19 response

Authors

  • Freya M Shearer Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, Australia
  • Laura Edwards Public Health Services, Department of Health Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
  • Martyn Kirk National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
  • Oliver Eales Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
  • Nick Golding Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, Australia; Curtin University, Perth, Australia
  • Jenna Hassall National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
  • Bette Liu National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, Australia; School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
  • Michael Lydeamore Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
  • Caroline Miller Health Policy Centre, SAHMRI; School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
  • Robert Moss Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
  • David J Price Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Melbourne, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, Australia
  • Gerard E Ryan Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, Australia
  • Sheena Sullivan Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Melbourne, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, Australia; WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, Australia
  • Ruarai Tobin Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
  • Kate Ward Public Health Response Branch, NSW Ministry of Health, Sydney, Australia
  • John Kaldor Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
  • Allen C Cheng Monash Infectious Diseases, Monash Health and School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia
  • James Wood School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
  • James M McCaw Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2024.48.47

Keywords:

viral respiratory infections, public health surveillance, COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Disease surveillance data was critical in supporting public health decisions throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. At the same time, the unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic revealed many shortcomings of surveillance systems for viral respiratory pathogens. Strengthening of surveillance systems was identified as a priority for the recently established Australian Centre for Disease Control, which represents a critical opportunity to review pre-pandemic and pandemic surveillance practices, and to decide on future priorities, during both pandemic and inter-pandemic periods. On 20 October 2022, we ran a workshop with experts from the academic and government sectors who had contributed to the COVID-19 response in Australia on ‘The role of surveillance in epidemic response’, at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Following the workshop, we developed five recommendations to strengthen respiratory virus surveillance systems in Australia, which we present here. Our recommendations are not intended to be exhaustive. We instead chose to focus on data types that are highly valuable yet typically overlooked by surveillance planners. Three of the recommendations focus on data collection activities that support the monitoring and prediction of disease impact and the effectiveness of interventions (what to measure) and two focus on surveillance methods and capabilities (how to measure). Implementation of our recommendations would enable more robust, timely, and impactful epidemic analysis.

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17/07/24

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Shearer, Freya M, Laura Edwards, Martyn Kirk, Oliver Eales, Nick Golding, Jenna Hassall, Bette Liu, et al. 2024. “Opportunities to Strengthen Respiratory Virus Surveillance Systems in Australia: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Response”. Communicable Diseases Intelligence 48 (July). https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2024.48.47.

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