Introduction

HIV case-based surveillance

As more countries implement national electronic medical records, there is demand for secondary use of electronic medical record (EMR) data. Among these is the use of EMR data for HIV case-based surveillance. HIV case and mortality reporting is recommended as a core component of 2^nd generation HIV surveillance. Case-based surveillance of HIV collects information on key sentinel events for each person with HIV. It seeks to monitor and describe the longitudinal progression of HIV in each person.

To support The United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)’s focus on sustainable control of the HIV epidemic, use of information from HIV case –based surveillance would provide a better understanding of epidemic trends over time, identify epidemic hotspots, and identify sub-populations at high risk of infection, among others; in a timely manner.

The documentation that follows refers to use of HIV patient-level data from openMRS, an electronic medical record, for HIV case-based surveillance. The case reporting module in openMRS represents the case-based surveillance component of the system. Screenshots have been provided to illustrate a test patient’s HIV progression along the care cascade by generating the relevant case reports for each sentinel event being monitored.

For interoperability, the case reports are generated as Fast healthcare interoperable resources (FHIR) documents to be sent to a public health agency’s shared health repository.

References