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Enhancing global capacity in the surveillance, prevention, and control of chronic diseases: seven themes to consider and build upon

¹ Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Government of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario; Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
² National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), US Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS), Atlanta, GA, USA
³ National Public Health Institute (KTL), Helsinki, Finland
⁴ Nyon, Switzerland
⁵ Communicable Disease Control Unit, Public Health Branch, Victorian Department of Human Services, Melbourne, Australia
⁶ Department of Statistics, University of Venice, Venice, Italy
⁷ Disease Prevention and Control, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Washington DC, USA
⁸ Public Health Agency of Canada, Government of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
⁹ Behavioral Surveillance Branch, Division of Adult and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), US Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS), Atlanta, GA, USA
¹⁰ ASCARDIO and Ministry of Health and Social Development; Americas’ Network for Chronic Disease Surveillance (AMNET), Barquisimeto, Venezuela
¹¹ Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
¹² Doctoral School of Public Health and Information Science, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
¹³ Faculty of Health, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
¹⁴ State Research Centre for Preventine Medicine, Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia
¹⁵ Department of Clinical Laboratory, Clinical Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de la República Oriental del Uruguay; Ministry of Public Health, Montevideo, Uruguay
¹⁶ Centre for International Health; Department of Public Health Sciences and Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
¹⁷ Center for Evaluation of Public Health, Policies, Programs and Technologies, CEDETES; School of Public Health, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia
¹⁸ Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
¹⁹ Health Surveillance, Chronic Disease Surveillance and Epidemiology, Rural and Regional Health and Aged Care Services, Victorian Department of Human Services, Melbourne, Australia
²⁰ Endowed Health Services Research Center, School of Medicine, Medical Sciences Campus, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
²¹ Observatory of Chronic Diseases, National Institute of Health of Colombia; Diagnosis and Intervention of Cardiovascular and Chronic Disease Risk Factors in the Population, National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
²² WHO Collaborating Centre for Electronic Surveillance of Diseases, Paris; French School of Public Health, Rennes, France
²³ Oficina General de Estadística e Informática, Non-Communicable Diseases, Ministry of Health, Lima, Peru

Correspondence to:
Dr Bernard C K Choi, Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada, Government of Canada, PL 6701A, 120 Colonnade Road, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 1B4; Bernard_Choi{at}phac-aspc.gc.ca

Background: Chronic diseases are now a major health problem in developing countries as well as in the developed world. Although chronic diseases cannot be communicated from person to person, their risk factors (for example, smoking, inactivity, dietary habits) are readily transferred around the world. With increasing human progress and technological advance, the pandemic of chronic diseases will become an even bigger threat to global health.

Methods: Based on our experiences and publications as well as review of the literature, we contribute ideas and working examples that might help enhance global capacity in the surveillance of chronic diseases and their prevention and control. Innovative ideas and solutions were actively sought.

Results: Ideas and working examples to help enhance global capacity were grouped under seven themes, concisely summarised by the acronym "SCIENCE": Strategy, Collaboration, Information, Education, Novelty, Communication and Evaluation.

Conclusion: Building a basis for action using the seven themes articulated, especially by incorporating innovative ideas, we presented here, can help enhance global capacity in chronic disease surveillance, prevention and control. Informed initiatives can help achieve the new World Health Organization global goal of reducing chronic disease death rates by 2% annually, generate new ideas for effective interventions and ultimately bring global chronic diseases under greater control.