India has seen outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging diseases. Public health systems face a challenge because of the slow communication process: People get sick, are seen by healthcare providers, get laboratory confirmations, information flows up the channels to local health [agencies], state and national governments. Each of these stages can take days, weeks or months. On the other hand, a virus can spread around the world within few days if preventive and control actions are not initiated.
A rapid response for curtailing these outbreaks is therefore required. Innovative solutions using crowd sourcing for detection and tracking of infections like HINI, dengue, malaria, chikunguniya, etc are required for prevention and control of emerging and re-emerging infections. A dynamic HealthMap for India may be created based on tapping online sources of data including social media, news report, blogs, etc. Interactive tools can be built to help individuals to use these for providing information and know about the outbreaks happening near them. Local/state/national health agencies can immediately provide information on how the public can take care of their own health. This will help the country to be better equipped when the next outbreak happens.
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