Objective Background A crucial goal of infectious disease surveillance is the early detection of epidemics, which is essential for disease control. In China, the current surveillance system is based on confirmed case reports and only covers notifiable diseases. In rural China, it is not practical for health units to perform laboratory tests to confirm disease and people are more likely to get 'old' and emerging infectious diseases due to poor living conditions and closer contacts with wild animals and poultry. Syndromic surveillance which collects non-specific syndromes before diagnosis has great advantages in promoting the early detection of epidemics and reducing the necessities of disease confirmation. It will be especially effective for surveillance in resource poor settings. Objectives The objective is to improve the early detection of epidemics in rural China by integrating syndromic surveillance with case report surveillance system. This involves three main phases: (1) the development of an integrated surveillance system; (2) the implementation of this system; (3) the evaluation of this system. This project will contribute to knowledge, experience and evidence with regard to the development and implementation of an integrated surveillance system for the early warning of epidemics in similar settings. Methods This is an intervention study. The intervention tool will be an integrated surveillance system, combining syndromic surveillance with the existing case report surveillance in four selected counties in China. In order to evaluate the early warning capability of the new added syndromic surveillance, the timelines and validity of the alert signals triggered from syndromic surveillance will be compared against those from corresponding case report surveillance (as a reference) for the same region and time period. The acceptability, feasibility and economic evaluation of the whole integrated surveillance system will be conducted in a before and after study design. Fields of science medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseases Programme(s) FP7-HEALTH - Specific Programme "Cooperation": Health Topic(s) HEALTH-2009-4.3.2-3 - Integration of Disease Surveillance and Health Systems Response (SICA) Call for proposal FP7-HEALTH-2009-single-stage See other projects for this call Funding Scheme CP-FP-SICA - Small/medium-scale focused research project for specific cooperation actions dedicated to international cooperation partner countries(SICA) Coordinator KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET EU contribution € 790 244,00 Address Nobels Vag 5 17177 Stockholm Sweden See on map Region Östra Sverige Stockholm Stockholms län Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Anna-Britta Karlsson Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Participants (4) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all HUAZHONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY China EU contribution € 751 102,00 Address LUOYU ROAD 1037 HUBEI 430074 WUHAN See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Shaofa Nie (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Total cost No data FUDAN UNIVERSITY China EU contribution € 846 121,00 Address HANDAN ROAD 220 200433 SHANGHAI See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Biao Xu (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data UNIVERSITATSKLINIKUM HEIDELBERG Germany EU contribution € 456 195,00 Address IM NEUENHEIMER FELD 672 69120 Heidelberg See on map Region Baden-Württemberg Karlsruhe Heidelberg, Stadtkreis Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Thorsten Brietz (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data FUTURE POSITION X IDEELL FORENING Sweden EU contribution € 124 175,00 Address NOBELVAGEN 2 80133 GAVLE See on map Region Norra Sverige Norra Mellansverige Gävleborgs län Activity type Other Administrative Contact Bengt Julin (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data