Arwin Jerome Manalo Onda

Thank you for your presentation. Hypertension can trigger other grave diseases such as CKD and Diabetes; hence, it is rational to do active surveillance since most people are not aware they’re at risk of hypertension.

While there are no legal implications identified, it may be important to discuss with the patient regarding the data being…[Read more]

Thank you for sharing your project surveillance system. Early warning system is helpful in detecting outbreaks. You may need to perform pilot testing on select diseases first (probably a two or three diseases) so you can gauge the performance of this system in its effectiveness to achieve the desired outcomes. Starting with an array of diseases…[Read more]

I would like to share this early draft of the assessment timelines in performing the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) process in the Philippines. HTA is a process of determining the which health technology (eg, drug, device, vaccine etc) need to be funded by the national government in lieu of limited resources.

I was involved in developing the…[Read more]

We have the same analysis on the Respect principle. It felt unnecessary and unprofessional to compare their response versus other nation’s response. Since it is a global phenomenon, every nation should express collaboration in combating the disease.

Based on the CERC principles, here are my comparisons on the two speeches made:

1. Be first – Despite limited information, the Singapore PM explains the facts at hand (eg, mortality rate, transmission rate). The US President made a national address after the WHO declared that COVID-19 pandemic, which was in March 2020. In contrary, the Singapore…[Read more]

Thanks for sharing Professor and dear classmates.

Here’s mine. I shared this story on my graduation day post in Facebook. I figured out this story fits this week’s topic discussion.

I was, at that time, a Computer Engineering freshman at a prestigious university. It was during the subject enlistment of second semester when I realized and stood…[Read more]

Similar in the Philippines, we need to further develop our contact tracing system such that digital platforms and technologies available can be utilized to its fullest extent.

Of all the digital technologies mentioned, our contact tracing is notably the most important aspect of handling this pandemic that needs improvement by a lot. In my previous topic discussions, I have mentioned how the national contact tracing app became the least effective tool in managing COVID-19. We don’t know how the application feeds the…[Read more]

I remember how I was confused during the A(H1N1) outbreak in 2009. I was in high school that time and I didn’t know how grave the situation was. All I can remember is that, it is a flu but more contagious and severe. Now that I’ve taken some epidemiology subjects, it must have been worrisome for people before who had full awareness of the disease.

My classmates have already given the famous examples of Public Health Emergencies of International Concern. The most notable ones I can remember are SARS (2004), MERS-CoV (2012), Ebola (2014), and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (2019-present).

These outbreaks raise concern since they disrupt normal day-to-day living, adversely affects health,…[Read more]

I agree with the points raised by Ashara. In a limited resource setting, financing is a crucial part of a public health intervention. Hence, decisions should be based on evidence-based information that are comprehensively collected and analyzed to give a bigger view of the health problem.

Policy-makers rely on available, reported data. These will guide decision-making and prioritization of resources for inclusion in health agenda.

Overestimating a health problem may result to:
– Wastage of resources (particularly financial resources) to address the problem
– Unnecessary panic among people residing in regions tagged with high…[Read more]

Thank you for sharing a real-world example of information technology in public health surveillance. Visualization is an important aspect of data analysis since it gives the overall picture of the health situation. Using the extensive Google maps services is extremely beneficial in determining regions or places where much attention is needed.

Information technology, at its core, aims to automate or simplify human tasks. Electronic storage and recording of data allow further analysis on trends and examine the epidemic curve in a matter of few clicks. Statistical reports may be generated and can be used as evidentiary bases for decision-making and policy-making. Information technology…[Read more]

Contact tracing technology is one of the promising digital technologies created in the advent of COVID-19. While it’s mainly built for surveillance, some privacy groups in our country worry about the security of the collected information. Likewise, our contact tracing czar revealed that our national contact tracing app was not able to fulfill its…[Read more]

I think the simplest yet most effective digital technology related to COVID-19 is the use of chat bots. Health care institutions have been hit the hardest by this pandemic in terms of resources, capacity, and manpower. As the cases rise, many people seek consultations online to reach a health care professional and seek medical attention.

Chat…[Read more]

Auswin made good points that some surveillance are equally needed depending on the situation – given that COVID-19 may be undetected due to asymptomatic cases. While it may be costly, an all-out surveillance will definitely result to better outcomes, which in this case is lowering the reproduction rate of COVID-19.

COVID-19 as we all know, is an infectious respiratory disease that currently spreads at an alarming rate. Surveillance can help reduce its spread through:
– determining the burden of disease: hotspots can be detected through surveillance. This will prompt action to increase testing and treatment capacity and quickly employ preventive interventions…[Read more]

As any patient-level data is strictly confidential, this type of study must be reviewed by the respective Ethics Review Board of the institution to determine the ethical considerations in conducting such study. By default, however, this requirement of the depth of patient information would considerably result to rejection, specifically if such…[Read more]