Elements for Surveillance Scheme Design in U.S. Animal Health

Last Modified: February 07, 2024

1. Surveillance Objective
   1. Describe the hazard management goal and the response objective or activity supported by the surveillance. State the specific surveillance objective with a measure of precision.
   2. State the measurable outcome of the surveillance scheme. Describe the action that will result from the information gathered through surveillance.
   3. Describe the consequences of making a wrong decision using the surveillance information.
2. Surveillance Context
   1. Describe the setting in which surveillance is carried out. Include:
      1. The species of animal
      2. The production type or environment in which the animals are found including the region or State(s) that are the focus of this surveillance
      3. The health hazard of primary concern
      4. Historic presence/absence of the health hazard
      5. All response actions that are in place at the time of the surveillance (such as biosecurity measures, movement restrictions, isolation periods, and similar.)
   2. Indicate items from the list above that impact the level of surveillance needed to achieve the surveillance objective.
3. Inference Group
   1. Carefully define the inference group (the group of units the surveillance provides information about), making it clear which units are included in the inference group and which ones are not.
   2. Note if the inference group differs in any way from the population included in the hazard management goal, what those differences are, and why there is a difference.
4. Unit Selection
   1. Identify the specific units (animals, pens, barns, premises, areas, zones, etc.) to collect measurements from.
   2. Describe the hierarchy of units to select and measure. For example, to collect measurements about disease on a premises might require selecting barns within the premises, pens within the barns, and animals within the pens.
   3. Explain the processes for selecting units from the inference group, such as selecting all units (census), random selection, targeted selection, or a combination.
   4. When using targeted selection, describe and justify the use of the targeting criteria.
5. Measurements
   1. List the primary measurements required to achieve the surveillance objective.
   2. List additional measurements (contextual data) required.
6. Measurement Tools
   1. Describe the tools (instruments, devices, processes) to be used to take the measurements.
   2. Provide references to other material as necessary so that the measurements can be collected correctly.
7. Number of Units
   1. Provide the number of units (at all levels of the hierarchy) to collect measurements from to achieve the surveillance objective(s).
   2. Include the level of precision or the uncertainty in the inference or predictions. Specifically, state the chances of making a wrong decision using the surveillance information provided by this scheme and list the conditions that could result in an error.
   3. Describe how quickly the measurements need to be collected (the period of time for taking the key measurements) to be considered one measurement event.
8. Frequency of Repetitions and Duration
   1. Explain whether the measurement event needs to be repeated and how often.
   2. Describe the duration of surveillance (or number of repeats) to achieve the surveillance objective(s).
9. Data Recording
   1. Describe any processes or systems for recording data such as approved forms, electronic forms on hand-held devices, or official data systems.
   2. Provide details on how specific data fields should be entered or provide a link to special instructions for each official system used.

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