United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2001-08-31 monographic deposited born digital 74 p. GA 1.13:GAO-01-722 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-722 P0b002ee18039a56c f:d01722 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-722 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-722 GAO-01-722 Disease detection or diagnosis Infectious diseases International cooperation International organizations Public health research UN Expanded Program on Immunization CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service Program DOD Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS UN Children's Fund West Nile Virus Other Written Product A01703 According to the World Health Organization, infectious diseases account for more than 13 million deaths every year, including nearly two-thirds of all deaths among children under age 5. Infectious diseases present a substantial threat to people in all parts of the world and this threat has grown in volume and complexity. New diseases have emerged, others once viewed as declining in significance have resurged in importance, and many have developed substantial resistance to known antimicrobial drugs. Infectious disease surveillance provides national and international public health authorities with information that they need to plan and manage efforts to control these diseases. In the mid-1990s, public health experts in the United States and abroad determined that global infectious disease surveillance was inadequate, and both the World Health Assembly and the President of the United States called for concerted action to develop an effective global infectious disease surveillance and response system. The strongest influence on the evolution of the current global infectious disease surveillance framework has been the international community's focus on specific diseases or groups of diseases. The international community has created diverse surveillance programs to support global and regional efforts to control particular diseases. Surveillance systems in all countries suffer from a number of common constraints. However, these constraints have their greatest impact in the poorest countries, where per capita expenditure on all aspects of health care amounts to only about three percent of expenditures in high-income countries. Surveillance in developing countries is often impaired by shortages of human and material resources. The international community has recently launched a number of initiatives that may improve global surveillance. The community has committed itself to achieving specific reductions in the global burdens imposed by three diseases--tuberculosis, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and malaria--that present complex challenges. Also, the community has launched more broadly targeted initiatives to upgrade laboratories, strengthen epidemiological capacity, and otherwise improve surveillance for infectious diseases as a group. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-722/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-722.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-722/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-722.pdf GAO-01-722 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-722 Other Written Product GAO-01-722; Global Health: Challenges in Improving Infectious Disease Surveillance Systems; Disease detection or diagnosis Infectious diseases International cooperation International organizations Public health research UN Expanded Program on Immunization CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service Program DOD Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS UN Children's Fund West Nile Virus