Implementation System of a Biosurveillance System in the Republic of Korea and Its Legal Ramifications

Abstract

Laws are fundamental tools that regulate and manage various issues to protect the rights of the people in a society. Legislation on disease surveillance enables agencies to regulate and manage public health, including preventing the spread of infectious diseases. We assessed the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act of Korea (IDPCA) through the lens of biosurveillance to understand its effectiveness in protecting public health. In addition, the relevant legislation and regulations of the United States and the World Health Organization were examined. The evaluation concludes that the current IDPCA is limited in terms of providing guidance for early detection of and response to hazards using integrated data and an information-sharing system. Further revision of the laws is needed to enable early detection and warning of potential threats to public health.

Digital tools against COVID-19: taxonomy, ethical challenges, and navigation aid

“…38 Further, some countries have developed biosurveillance programmes that share some characteristics of both pandemic response and counter-terrorist programmes. 39 Therefore, it is crucial to distinguish digital public health technologies that allow third-party sharing of information for non-health-related purposes from those that do not.…”

A scoping review on data integration in the field of infectious diseases, 2009-2018

“…Countries with a lack of resources often face barriers and disincentives to publications (e.g., technology, cost, and publishing processes), leading to some publication bias. Given the global mobility of the population today, systematic cooperation among government agencies has become essential [11,18]. Of the studies reviewed, two were conducted in Ethiopia.…”

“…Although environmental factors and zoonoses have become matters of public health concern, requiring multisectoral, the "One Health" initiative, including risk monitoring through public surveillance systems, and surveillance systems remain independent [1,9,10]. Despite the increasing interest in multisector collaboration/data integration worldwide [11,12], little is known about how data are integrated by public health researchers and the impact of such work.…”