What we are here to do
Five objectives, taken from the Foundation's own statement of purpose. They govern what we take on and, just as usefully, what we decline.
The five commitments
Collect epidemiological data that is sufficient and appropriate
Enough data, of the right kind, to identify preventable cases, epidemiological patterns and the risk factors associated with a disease.
Support prevention and control of communicable disease
Under authorised surveillance: identifying cases, incidence, prevailing levels, impacts and trends.
Move data upward, on time
Timely transmission from local to provincial and national agencies for analysis, and timely reporting of the summary back to clinicians and public health officials.
Serve the people who need the information
Governments and their regulatory programmes, health care professionals, voluntary agencies and the public — on risk patterns and trends in the occurrence of communicable disease.
Help build objectives that can actually be met
Feasible prevention and control objectives, outbreak intervention strategies, and timely investigation and evaluation of control programmes — with periodic evaluation of the surveillance system itself, for cost and for progress.
Three working rules
We code at the point of capture
A finding recorded as free text cannot be counted later. Coding after the fact is expensive and lossy, so we do it at the moment of the consultation.
We do not run a camp without a follow-up path
Screening that identifies a condition and has nowhere to send the child is not a service. Referral capacity is checked before a programme is scheduled.
We report back to the population, not only upward
Every school and community we serve receives its own annual disease statistical report, in language that the school management can act on.
Hold us to these.
If a programme we run does not meet them, tell us.