Notifiable Disease Surveillance and Reporting

What is Notifiable Disease Surveillance?

The CNMI is part of the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS). NNDSS helps public health monitor, control, and prevent about 120 diseases. These diseases are important to monitor nationwide and include infectious diseases such as COVID-19, foodborne outbreaks such as Salmonella, and noninfectious conditions such as lead poisoning.

Why is it important?

NNDSS enables all levels of public health (local, state, territorial, federal, and international) to share health information to monitor, control, and prevent the occurrence and spread of state-reportable and nationally notifiable infectious and some noninfectious diseases and conditions. This helps us to understand diseases and their spread and determine appropriate actions to control outbreaks.

National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) Base System (NBS)

To support a robust system to build and enhance epidemiology and laboratory capacity in population health surveillance, detection, and response, the CHCC ELC Program has been participating in the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS). NEDSS is a complex system comprised of set-standards of software, computer equipment, databases and data that allows for electronic reporting of diseases to Federal counterparts in an efficient manner.

As a result of the continuous contribution from our various internal and external partners, the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) Base System (NBS) has been adopted in August 2019 to support case and contact investigation, analysis reporting, and data exchange for the CNMI reportable diseases and conditions of public health significance. The NBS is a CDC-developed integrated information system that helps local, state, and territorial public health departments manage reportable disease data and send notifiable disease data to CDC.