What type of surveillance involves health agencies contacting health providers seeking reports and aims for more complete reporting?

What type of surveillance involves health agencies contacting health providers seeking reports and aims for more complete reporting?

• A. Passive Surveillance
• B. Registries
• C. Wastewater Surveillance
• D. Active Surveillance

Answer: (D)

Gathering data by actively pursuing reports is what this concept is about. Active surveillance means health agencies reach out directly to health providers, laboratories, and facilities to solicit reports, perform follow-ups, and push for complete and timely information. This proactive approach reduces underreporting that often happens when reporting is left to providers to submit on their own, which is the hallmark of passive surveillance. Registries are structured collections focused on predefined conditions or populations; they organize data but aren’t inherently about proactively contacting sources to solicit every report. Wastewater surveillance, on the other hand, collects data from environmental samples to estimate disease prevalence at the population level, not by soliciting provider reports. Therefore, actively contacting providers to obtain more complete reporting best fits the definition of active surveillance.

Gathering data by actively pursuing reports is what this concept is about. Active surveillance means health agencies reach out directly to health providers, laboratories, and facilities to solicit reports, perform follow-ups, and push for complete and timely information. This proactive approach reduces underreporting that often happens when reporting is left to providers to submit on their own, which is the hallmark of passive surveillance.

Registries are structured collections focused on predefined conditions or populations; they organize data but aren’t inherently about proactively contacting sources to solicit every report. Wastewater surveillance, on the other hand, collects data from environmental samples to estimate disease prevalence at the population level, not by soliciting provider reports. Therefore, actively contacting providers to obtain more complete reporting best fits the definition of active surveillance.