Journal of Public Health Management and Practice

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May/June 2023 - Volume 29 - Issue 3

  • Lloyd F. Novick, MD, MPH
    Associate Editor: Justin B. Moore, PhD, MS
  • 1078-4659
  • 1550-5022
  • 6 issues / year
  • Public, Environmental, and Occupational Health: 108/182
  • 2.657
January/February 2023 - Volume 29 - Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey 2021 Supplement 1
Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey 2021 (PH WINS)
Published January/February 2023

This issue focuses on various programs that enable public health surveillance. Surveillance is the critical collection and analysis of data that provide the basis for public health practice. The lead scientific article “Improving Foodborne Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Protection Using Peer Networks" by White and co-authors shows how this type of activity is necessary to the prevention and control of foodborne disease in the United States. Contaminated foods in the US cause an estimated 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3000 deaths each year. The article describes the development by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence (IFS CoEs) at selected state health departments in collaboration with academic partners.

Another illustration of the wide range of surveillance activities is shown in an article describing the development and evaluation of syndromic surveillance activities for fall and hip fracture emergency department visits. Surveillance definitions for fall and hip fracture were developed and used by the CDC's National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) and compared with the percentage of Emergency Department (ED) visits from the Healthcare Utilization Project Emergency Department Sample, a nationally representative set. The importance of this work is shown by falls that resulted in 8 million injuries, 3 million emergency department visits, and 32,000 deaths among older adults in 2018.

Two articles in the issue describe a more frequently used surveillance method, wastewater examination, to gauge the threat of COVID-19 to the community. Harris-Lovett and co-authors report in “Wastewater Surveillance to Inform Public Health Decision Making in Residential Institutions" that decision makers at six residential units (universities, prisons, and nursing homes) found information from wastewater surveillance, combined with other information, helpful in making decisions to counter the transmission of COVID-19.

The “Implementation and Utilization of Wastewater-Based Epidemiology  Experiences from a Local Health Department" by Swain and colleagues reports that in 2020 the Oakland County Health Division in Michigan began using wastewater surveillance initially at a large sewer site and then at residential facilities. Between September 2021 and May 2022, more than 760 samples were collected of which 13 percent were above a predetermined threshold. When sites were above threshold, testing and vaccination efforts were offered. The authors conclude that wastewater epidemiology is a useful tool when funding and a trained staff are available.​


Lloyd F. Novick, MD, MPH                                                      Justin B. Moore, PhD, MS

Editor-in-Chief                                                                       Associate Editor

Current Issue Highlights

Improving Foodborne Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Detection and Response Using Peer Networks—The Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence

White, Alice E.; Garman, Katie N.; Hedberg, Craig; More

Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. 29(3):287-296, May/June 2023.

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