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About Us
Global burden of blindness is 37 million according to the global blindness data of 2002.
Apart from the prevention strategies for blindness and visual impairment it is crucial to have specific data on risk factors so that priorities can be timely set interventions and monitored. The concept of blindness surveillance caters to this requirement.
India is the first country to launch a sentinel surveillance system for tracking blindness and ocular morbidity. Available data in the country indicated that there is a need to maintain a constant vigil on performance, quality and implementation of identified strategies. It would not be feasible to set up a monitoring and collating mechanism in all districts in a culturally diverse and heavily populated country like India. It was therefore decided to set up a chain of Sentinel Surveillance Units across the country which would be representative of the different regions.
Surveillance is often defined as the systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health data and the timely dissemination of this data to policymakers and others. Good quality health information is essential for planning and implementing health policy in all countries. Surveillance provides health information in a timely manner so that countries have the information that they need to fight epidemics now or plan for the future. It is a fundamental tool of public health.
The sentinel surveillance system is an active surveillance system in terms of seeking out data from selected, targeted groups or networks put together for specific purposes. These sentinel centres covers a subset of the population.
Sentinel surveillance can produce early, timely and complete information, but methodology must be carefully developed and data interpreted. Evaluation of surveillance is also done in this on a cyclic basis. The site will be a resource for all the periodical analysis of each centre in terms of its flexibility and representativeness
The site in the primary phase will consist of the available data on blindness and ocular morbidity from surveys and data from the 25 sentinel centres. The site enhances the capability of stake holders to respond to changing trends in the country. The site gives a comprehensive analysis of available data on blindness since year 2000 which can address the challenges and the gaps in terms of public health action. It is important to utilize the available human resources and infrastructure in an optimal way to capture the blindness services needs of the population. The site provides information on the available human resource and infra structure for eye care service delivery in the country.
The morbidities which are streamlined for the purpose of sentinel surveillance are from the ICD-10 classification by WHO.
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