Why is Global Surveillance Necessary?

Abstract

The “Global Issues and Perspectives in Monitoring Behaviors in Populations: Surveillance of Risk Factors in Health and Illness” conference, held in Atlanta in September 1999 and organised jointly by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Finnish National Public Health Institute (KTL), was undoubtedly a landmark for developing international collaboration on the long road towards global noncommunicable disease (NCD) risk factor surveillance. Practical background to the meeting included numerous contacts between KTL and CDC over the years with regard to chronic disease prevention and health promotion. During these contacts, the issue of surveillance and monitoring became increasingly important and obvious. Both institutes had accumulated a great deal of experience with behavioural surveillance systems over the years, and each had collaborated with a number of countries. Furthermore, both institutes realised the growing international interest in this topic because of the changing global burden of disease: NCD prevention and health promotion were becoming key topics in international public health, and monitoring target risk factors is a major component of the work. The aim of the Atlanta meeting was to start an international discussion to explore the feasibility of working globally to address NCD risk factor surveillance.