"The community-based surveillance volunteers will carry out early detection of health threats to be immediately responded," the ministry's assistant deputy for disease control and management, Dr. Nancy Dian Anggraeni, said at a counseling event on "Surveillance Technical Guidelines" at the Siswodipuran Village Office in Boyolali district, Central Java, on Wednesday.
If the threat of disease is detected early, it will not develop into an outbreak. Therefore, the community is expected to take part in the surveillance system, she explained.
She informed that the volunteer activity consists of trials for the technical guidelines for community-based surveillance. The activity is necessary to assess volunteers' understanding of carrying out community-based surveillance related to the materials that have been prepared by the Ministry of Health as a draft of the technical guidelines.
Related news: Gov't supports efforts to improve monkeypox detection capabilities
Volunteers are needed to report findings of disease in humans or animals considering what was witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak, with cases breaking out in a small group and then spreading to a larger community.
"We did not know earlier regarding those two diseases. If we could find out earlier the information from the community or from the volunteers, we would be able to prevent it from becoming an outbreak. The goal is to have community-based surveillance," Anggraeni said.
The ministry will connect the community-based surveillance sampling activities with several ministries and institutions such as Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Ministry of Home Affairs, village heads, and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) to increase sensitivity in detecting threats.
Her ministry has selected Boyolali district as an example of community-based surveillance since the region has implemented the practice. Volunteers in Siswodipuran village are being assisted by the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), Boyolali branch, as part of a pilot project funded by the International Red Cross.
"This was shown by the reports submitted through volunteers that quickly entered the relevant agencies. The accuracy of the reports was quite good. We saw the impact of volunteer activities supporting the delivery of information on disease threats were going fast and well," she said.
Related news: Ministers must focus on public services during extraordinary events
Translator: Bambang Dwi M, Resinta S
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
