Monitoring non-communicable diseases risk factors in national adult health surveys – a review of international experience

Abstract

Introduction. Monitoring is an important tool for managing the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases. The insufficiency of the measures taken to create and strengthen national systems of epidemiological surveillance for noncommunicable diseases is recognized. In this regard, the search and development of rapid and cost-effective approaches to monitoring risk factors for noncommunicable diseases continues. Objective. To explore an approach to developing a national monitoring system for risk factors for noncommunicable diseases based on population health surveys in some countries of the world. Materials and methods. A content analysis of the documents of the World Health Organization, open data, scientific publications, regulations and reports of countries (India, USA, European countries, including Belgium and Finland) on the study of public health and risk factors for non-communicable diseases was carried out. Results. The possibility of incorporating elements of a monitoring study into population health surveillance systems that already exist at the national level is an important advantage for developing approaches to monitoring risk factors for noncommunicable diseases. In this regard, the World Health Organization's STEPS stepwise approach to risk factor surveillance has evolved. National population health surveys that include risk factor monitoring can be divided into health surveys and health surveys. There are also separate national studies (surveys and surveys) that focus on several behavioral risks or individual risk factors. Some monitoring systems that measure progress towards global noncommunicable disease targets also additionally cover late issues and emerging risk factors. Discussion. The studied international experience of national systems of research on public health and epidemiological surveillance of noncommunicable diseases indicates trends towards standardization and unification of tools for monitoring risk factors for noncommunicable diseases.