Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP)

7-Jan-2018: Food poisoning, a common outbreak in 2017

Recent data put out by the Union Health Ministry’s Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) has indicated that food poisoning is one of the commonest outbreaks reported in 2017. This is apart from acute diarrhoea disease (ADD).

According to the data, 312 of the 1,649 outbreaks reported till the third week of December 2017 were due to ADD and 242 were due to food poisoning.

The IDSP has interpreted that the incidence of ADD and food poisoning is high in places where food is cooked in bulk, such as canteens, hostels and wedding venues.

It is not just this year. Acute diarrhoea disease and food poisoning have been common outbreaks since 2008. This is followed by chickenpox and measles.

Food poisoning, also called food-borne illness, is caused by eating contaminated food. Infectious organisms including bacteria, viruses and parasites or their toxins are the most common causes.

While it is known that raw meat, poultry and eggs can also harbour diseases, in recent years most outbreaks of food-borne illnesses have been due to contaminated fresh fruits and vegetables.

About IDSP

About Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP)

The Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) was initiated in assistance with World bank, in the year 2004. The Programme continues during 12th Plan (2012–17) under National Health Mission with a budget of Rs. 64.04 Crore from domestic budget only. The scheme aimed to strengthen disease surveillance for infectious diseases to detect and respond to outbreaks immediately. The Central Surveillance Unit (CSU) at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), receives disease outbreak reports from the States/UTs on weekly basis. Even NIL weekly reporting is mandated and compilation of disease outbreaks/alerts is done on weekly basis.

The surveillance data is collected on three specified reporting formats, namely “S” (suspected cases), “P” (presumptive cases) and “L” (laboratory confirmed cases) filled by Health Workers, Clinicians and Laboratory staff respectively. State/District Surveillance Units analyses this data weekly, to interpret the disease trends and seasonality of diseases.

Objective: To strengthen/maintain decentralized laboratory-based IT enabled disease surveillance system for epidemic-prone diseases to monitor disease trends and to detect and respond to outbreaks in early rising phase through trained Rapid Response Team (RRTs).

Programme Components:

Integration and decentralization of surveillance activities through the establishment of surveillance units at Centre, State and District level.
Human Resource Development – Training of State Surveillance Officers, District Surveillance Officers, Rapid Response Team and other Medical and Paramedical staff on principles of disease surveillance.
Use of Information Communication Technology for collection, collation, compilation, analysis and dissemination of data.
Strengthening of public health laboratories.
Inter sectoral Co-ordination for zoonotic disease.

Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) was launched with World Bank assistance in November 2004 to detect and respond to disease outbreaks quickly. The project was extended for 2 years in March 2010 i.e. from April 2010 to March 2012, World Bank funds were available for Central Surveillance Unit (CSU) at NCDC & 9 identified states (Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal) and the rest 26 states/UTs were funded from domestic budget. The Programme continues during 12th Plan (2012-17) under NHM with outlay of Rs. 640 Crore from domestic budget only.