Developing a Public Health Monitoring System in a War-torn Region: A Field Report From Iraqi Kurdistan

Wars, terrorism, and embargos destroyed facilities and shattered the public health system of Iraq. Today, there is limited documented knowledge about the health situation of the Iraqi population, particularly because health data are not systematically collected. Therefore, the capacity of the health system to address the major health problems of the population is considerably reduced. This report describes the implementation, started in 2015, of an electronic system for epidemiological monitoring and health surveillance, designed to collect and manage health care data in Iraqi Kurdistan. The aim of the program is to network all of the main health centers and hospitals of the region, then of the whole country, and to train medical and administrative staff in the management and analysis of health data. In countries recovering from war, a functioning health monitoring system is essential in guiding the development of appropriate public health interventions, a key instrument to prepare the health system to respond to future emergencies.