PUBLIC HEALTH SURVEILLANCE

Public health surveillance is the collection, analysis, use, and sharing of data to shape public health practice. Surveillance is critical to responding to substance use and overdose because it helps reveal how large the problem is, who is affected, and how trends change over time.

Data related to substance use and overdose come from several sources, including the St. Louis County Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, the Office of the Medical Examiner, the Hospital Industry Data Institute, the CDC’s National Syndromic Surveillance System, and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The Missouri Institute of Mental Health at the University of Missouri-St. Louis has developed an overdose field report that can be used to report the use of naloxone to rescue someone from an opioid overdose. First responders and the general public may report these events on a completely voluntary and anonymous basis.

Unfortunately, the data is only as accurate as what the reporter wishes to disclose. Since reporting is voluntary, the numbers are an underestimate of the actual burden of opioid overdoses in the area. Information may not always be local, comprehensive, or timely. The gaps that most impede our ability to aim our public health efforts appropriately and equitably are 1) the lack of comprehensive and timely nonfatal overdose data and 2) the difficulty of identifying predictive risk factors due to challenges linking multiple different data sources.

h Actions to be implemented by the Saint Louis County Department of Public Health with current resources.

„ Actions to be implemented by partners with current resources.

® Opportunities dependent on legislation, additional funding, capacity, or new commitments.