School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Health Place. 2011 Nov;17(6):1242-8. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2011.07.009. Epub 2011 Aug 6.
Public health surveillance involves the routine and ongoing collection, analysis and dissemination of health information for a variety of stakeholders-including both public health officials and the public. Much of the current focus of public health surveillance is on detecting aberrations in space-largely inspired by concerns about bioterrorism and newly emerging infectious diseases. We argue that the current focus on spatial aberrations has limited the development of public health surveillance by excluding a more explicit geographical understanding and representation of place. A more place-focused public health surveillance could represent geography in ways that are useful to a broader audience, provide information on the social and physical contexts related to health, facilitate a better understanding of health inequalities, and can benefit from local knowledge. Geographers can make important contributions to public health practice by contributing to more meaningful definitions of place in the design and operation of public health surveillance systems.
公共卫生监测涉及各种利益相关者（包括公共卫生官员和公众）的常规和持续的健康信息收集、分析和传播。目前公共卫生监测的重点主要是检测空间中的异常情况——这主要是出于对生物恐怖主义和新出现的传染病的担忧。我们认为，目前对空间异常的关注通过排除对地点的更明确的地理理解和表示，限制了公共卫生监测的发展。更注重地点的公共卫生监测可以以对更广泛受众有用的方式表示地理信息，提供与健康相关的社会和物理环境信息，促进对健康不平等的更好理解，并可以受益于地方知识。地理学家可以通过在公共卫生监测系统的设计和运行中对更有意义的地点定义做出贡献，从而为公共卫生实践做出重要贡献。
