Communicable diseases prioritized for surveillance and epidemiological research: results of a standardized prioritization procedure in Germany, 2011.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

To establish strategic priorities for the German national public health institute (RKI) and guide the institute's mid-term strategic decisions, we prioritized infectious pathogens in accordance with their importance for national surveillance and epidemiological research.

Methods

We used the Delphi process with internal (RKI) and external experts and a metric-consensus approach to score pathogens according to ten three-tiered criteria. Additional experts were invited to weight each criterion, leading to the calculation of a median weight by which each score was multiplied. We ranked the pathogens according to the total weighted score and divided them into four priority groups.

Results

127 pathogens were scored. Eighty-six experts participated in the weight

SUBMITTER: Balabanova Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3186774 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature