Lessons learnt from COVID-19 surveillance. Urgent need for a new public health surveillance. SESPAS Report 2022

In this article we provide the most important epidemiological aspects in the first phases of the pandemic and some preliminary reflections from the Coordinating Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies, the unit that has coordinated surveillance at the national level. COVID-19 has brought to light the weaknesses in the surveillance system and how difficult it is to manage a health crisis in the absence of a robust public health structure. The commitment of public health professionals during this epidemic has made up for the lack of resources in many occasions, and has evidenced the need to incorporate new professional profiles to surveillance teams. The need to rapidly adapt has achieved an improvement in existing systems and the development of new tools and new systems. These need to turn into structural changes that improve the quality of surveillance, decreasing territorial gaps and ensuring a better and coordinated response to future health crises. It is urgent to incorporate tools for process automation and to grant timely availability of data. To that end, public health and epidemiological surveillance must participate in the process of digital development within the National Health System. Profound changes are needed in public health surveillance, which has to be integrated in all healthcare levels. It is also important to strengthen the capacity for analysis by promoting alliances and joint actions. During this alert, the importance of coordination in public health in a decentralized country has been evident. At international level, it is necessary to review the tools to share data to coordinate an alert from the early stages. (C) 2022 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CCBYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This article provides important epidemiological aspects and preliminary reflections from the Coordinating Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. The weaknesses in the surveillance system and the challenges of managing a health crisis without a robust public health structure have been highlighted. The commitment of public health professionals has compensated for resource limitations and emphasized the need for incorporating new profiles into surveillance teams. Rapid adaptation has led to improvements in existing systems and the development of new tools. Structural changes are necessary to enhance surveillance quality, reduce territorial disparities, and ensure a coordinated response to future health crises. Incorporating tools for process automation and ensuring timely availability of data are urgent priorities. Public health and epidemiological surveillance need to be actively involved in the digital development of the National Health System. Integration of public health surveillance at all healthcare levels and strengthening analytical capacity through partnerships and joint actions are important. The importance of coordination in a decentralized country has been evident during this alert. At the international level, reviewing data sharing tools for early-stage coordination is necessary.