Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is a UK Government Department. The work of Defra includes maintaining high levels of protection of human, animal and plant health and improving the contribution that a profitable and competitive farming industry can make to our environment. the Surveillance, Zoonoses, Epidemiology and Risk Core Function (SZER) which is part of the Food and Farming Group (FFG) within Defra, concentrates on the health of animals and livestock and, as part of its remit, launched the Veterinary Surveillance Strategy in October 2003. A component of this is Surveillance Profiles.
Delivering the Surveillance Profiles Database
A Surveillance Profile represents a collection of information that describe and animal 'disease'. Each profile is a comprehensive summary of both technical and policy information - bringing together in one place knowledge that was previously held in disparate places and required a lot of manual data entry.
The Surveillance Profiles database built by SFW allows SZER to distinguish disease-specific and species-specific information, compare diseases across species and calculate a prioritisation score for each disease / species combination. This assists SZER in its reporting, planning and disease prevention, allowing it to identify emergent trends and act accordingly. Benefits gained include:
- Improved pooling of existing disease knowledge, better access to depth analysis and aids the identification of emergent trends
- Increased efficiency and better use of staff resources
- Policy makers are using the output from Surveillance Profiles as an evidence-based approach to directing policy.
- Briefing documents are widely derived from the application - saving time and money
Please click here to view or download the Defra Profiles Case History