Final answer:
Surveillance in public health involves collecting sensitive data to track diseases, which raises privacy concerns. Policies must balance treatments costs, quality of life, and privacy risks. Epidemiologists use various data sources to inform strategies like vaccinations and preventative policies.
Step-by-step explanation:
Public health officials and epidemiologists encounter numerous issues related to surveillance during disease tracking and management. Key among these issues is the balance between individual privacy and the necessity for data collection to monitor and control the spread of diseases. Surveillance efforts involve the collection of sensitive health data which raises concerns about privacy, especially in the face of increasing cyber technology capabilities. Policies need to address several crucial questions, including how to balance the costs of treatments and diagnoses with patient quality of life and risks to individual privacy, how to protect health data from unauthorized access, and the extent to which surveillance is acceptable for public health purposes.
Health agencies obtain data through various means including clinical records, patient interviews, and the rapid investigation of outbreaks. This information helps to develop public health strategies such as vaccinations and to design policies for reducing disease incidence or preventing its spread. Epidemiologists work in a multidisciplinary environment, sometimes alongside historians, to understand the historical context and evolution of diseases, which informs current public health strategies.