The value of collaborative surveillance: building a case to invest

Overview

Major health emergencies such as pandemics and other hazards raise complex questions that cannot be answered through single-disease systems alone or by viewing them only as a linear epidemic curve. Collaborative surveillance emphasizes that health emergencies must be understood through a broader lens that integrates diverse contextual factors. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic exposed weaknesses in fragmented surveillance systems and illustrated the critical need to leverage modern digital and data science, expand cooperation and data source integration with other sectors, and sharpen the analytics available to decision-makers. At the same time, declining external financing, coordination challenges and the push for country-led strategies are reshaping the health financing landscape.