Epidemiological data are essential to control and safeguard nations’ health. This determines the root causes of public health problems that require immediate action. The obtained data guides the management of victims of the disease, planning and gauging disease thwarting strategies. The data provides evidence to aid curb diseases and provide insight into the causes of diseases. It encourages effective treatment that can cure or prolong a person’s life.
Planning interventions and resource allocation are highly dependent on victims’ data. The presentation of ongoing disease occurrence and susceptibility patterns is the goal of public health surveillance so that investigation, control, and prevention can be implemented effectively and efficiently, such as through the grouping and clinical examination of mortality and morbidity record and other significant health information. Epidemiology is an interdisciplinary field with methods and techniques derived from biological statistics, social sciences, clinical medicine, and numerous types of natural science namely toxicology, pathology, and genetics (Villela & Gomes, 2022). When doing clinical research, epidemiological methods must be used by health officers. Therefore, clinicians must acquire the necessary skills to properly update and evaluate their knowledge to provide effective evidence-based patient care.
Surveillance and fieldwork are used in analytical studies to test hypotheses about transmission patterns and causes. Epidemiological studies are first studied graphically, with periodic clusters or infection outbreak inspections. The study of the incidence and distribution of diseases by time, place, and individual is part of the descriptive approach. It involves determining which groups of people are more at risk than others and quantifying the risk. When there is a strong association between exposure and disease, the investigation can be concluded once descriptive epidemiology is completed, and control measures are in place.
Reference
Villela, D. A. M., & Gomes, M. F. D. C. (2022). Importance of data availability and timely information for epidemiological surveillance. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 38. Web.