Analysis and evaluation of public health emergencies in Beilun district,Ningbo city,Zhejiang province,2004 - 2008

Objective The characteristics of public health emergencies and the quality of related network direct reports in Beilun district, Ningbo city, Zhejiang province from 2004 to 2008 were evaluated for further improvement of the effectiveness of emergency prevention and control and the quality of emergency reports. Methods A descriptive epidemiological approach was employed to analyze the data on public health emergencies reported through the network direct report system in Beilun district from 2004 to 2008. Results A total of 19 public health emergencies were reported in Beilun district, Ningbo city from 2004 to 2008, including 13 general events and 6 reports of relevant information, all of which were infectious diseases and most were cases of respiratory tract infectious diseases, accounting for 78.95%. A total of 546 cases were reported, including 1 death, with an average attack rate of 2.16%. 84.21% of the events took place at school. The average interval from the first onset of cases in an event to the time of report was 11.82 d, and the one from the receipt of report to direct network reporting was 10.80 h. The report data integrity rate was 84.21%, and the identification rate on the causal reasons was 100%. Conclusion Great importance shall be attached to the improvement of the prevention and control of school public health emergencies, and the on-site disposal of emergencies using rapid test technologies. Meanwhile, the management of the network direct report system shall be further standardized to improve the timeliness of report.