Bhubaneswar: The Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) unit of Odisha was honoured for its excellent work in public health surveillance at the 20th commemorative event of IDSP held in New Delhi.
This recognition is a testament to the team’s dedication and commitment towards safeguarding public health in the state.
Additional Director, Public Health Dr Pramila Baral and Joint Director-cum-SSO IDSP Dr Ashok Kumar Paikaray accepted the honour on behalf of Health and Family Welfare Department, Odisha government.
The Sate Surveillance Unit functions round the clock during natural disasters such as floods and cyclones to ensure timely detection and response to disease outbreaks.
The control room operates 24 x 7 to monitor disease trends, analyse data, and coordinate with district and higher health officials.
It regularly monitors the real-time disease data entered in Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) for surveillance.
The surveillance unit has been detecting and investigating outbreaks of vector-borne diseases, foodborne illnesses and waterborne diseases, vaccine preventable diseases and diseases of zoonotic origin to prevent outbreaks.
Around 32 district public health laboratories and 30 RTPCR laboratories have been set up across the state, upgraded and strengthened to monitor the outbreak of diseases.
IDSP reviews and analyses the epidemiological and laboratory data every Tuesday and Thursday, and monitors the performance of district surveillance units on a regular basis.
The unit also organises training programmes on disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, and laboratory techniques for healthcare providers.
It has joined hands with other departments such as Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare, Water Resources, School and Mass Education and some others for surveillance of diseases.