Countries' capacity to monitor Noncommunicable Diseases and Risk Factors in the Americas

Abstract

Surveillance is critical to provide the information needed to measure the prevalence and incidence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), their risk factors (RFs) and outcomes; to design policies and programs for their prevention and control, and to measure the impact of these policies and programs. Tracking NCDs and RFs remains a challenge because the surveillance systems established in many countries are still oriented towards monitoring transmissible diseases, and lack the capacity to comprehensively gather the information needed to orient policy- making for NCDs and Rfs.