Monitoring and surveillance of noncommunicable diseases

Good quality health information is essential for planning and implementing health policy in all countries. Monitoring and surveillance provide health information in a timely manner so that countries have the information they need to fight epidemics now or plan for the future. They are fundamental tools for public health. Public health monitoring and surveillance activities comprise the regular collection of health information in terms of health indicators, the routine analysis of indicators over time, place and between population groups, sharing of available scientific knowledge, and the regular dissemination of results.

A global monitoring framework was developed by WHO to enable global tracking of progress in preventing and controlling major noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their key risk factors. The framework is being implemented in the Western Pacific Region.