Development of Reporting Guidelines for Animal Health Surveillance-AHSURED

Area of Science:

• Veterinary epidemiology
• Public health
• Animal health management

Background:

• Current animal health surveillance trends favor risk-based designs and output-based standards, necessitating greater flexibility.
• Increased flexibility in surveillance design demands enhanced transparency in its activities, design, and implementation.
• Transparency is crucial for stakeholders, trade partners, decision-makers, and risk assessors to validate surveillance outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the first version of the Animal Health Surveillance Reporting Guidelines (AHSURED).
• To establish a standardized framework for communicating animal health surveillance activities through narrative descriptions.
• To improve the consistency and quality of reported information in scientific journals and surveillance reports.

Main Methods:

• Development of reporting guidelines inspired by evidence-based medicine principles.
• Creation of a checklist comprising 40 items organized into 11 sections, representing surveillance system building blocks.
• Utilizing a wiki format (https://github.com/SVA-SE/AHSURED/wiki) for accessibility and collaborative refinement.

Main Results:

• The first version of the AHSURED guidelines has been developed.
• The guidelines provide a structured checklist to ensure comprehensive reporting of surveillance activities.
• A wiki platform is established for ongoing input and maintenance of the guidelines by experts.

Conclusions:

• AHSURED provides a vital tool for increasing transparency and standardizing reporting in animal health surveillance.
• The wiki format ensures the guidelines remain dynamic and responsive to expert input.
• Adoption of AHSURED will facilitate accurate interpretation of surveillance data and support evidence-based decision-making in animal health.