Question

HCI 314- Public Health Informatics

Explain how risk factor information systems complement vital statistics systems and primary scientific research.

What has driven the need for risk factor information systems in this century?

In a Word document, 3–4 well-developed paragraphs ,essay style answer

Support your writings by 3 references (APA style) apart from the text book.

(Proper formatting, correct referencing and cover page will carry one mark)

Answer 1

Risk factor data systems are a relatively recent addition to the information systems arsenal of public health professionals. These systems complement vital statistics data systems and many morbidity data systems by providing information on factors that lie earlier in the causal chain leading to serious illness, injury, or death. There is a great variety of risk factor systems in use at the present time: some are designed to produce estimates for use at the national or regional level, whereas others are state- or local-level systems. Some focus on “pure” (predisease) risk factors (e.g., risk-taking behavior), whereas others focus on early disease states that represent risk factors for subsequently more serious disease or death.

Risk factor information system complement the primary scientific research in facilitating the analysis,understanding, and use of risk factor data which helps effective identifying risk factor in communities, and in evaluating outcomes of disease programs which may increase the efficiency with which interventions can be targeted and evaluated.

By the start of the twentieth century, the public health community had recognized that vital statics and other mortality data lacked the breadth, depth, and timeliness to effectively detect, describe, and respond to modern threats to the public's health, as increasing focus was placed on mitigating the antecedent behaviours, conditions, and exposures that strongly influence future disease, disability, and death. From this need for richer and more current risk factor information, public health developed specialized surveillance procedures and systems to support them.