Sentinel syndromic surveillance
“Timeliness is of the essence when it comes to disease outbreaks, whether natural or intentional.”
Why syndromes
A syndrome is a set of signs and symptoms that tend to occur together, signalling a particular illness. Syndromic surveillance is useful for early detection of, and response to, public health threats, such as identifying the influenza season and alert and outbreak levels. Disease surveillance is good for monitoring trends, evaluating programmes and planning interventions. Syndromic, disease and laboratory surveillance are complementary to each other.
The sentinel sites
There are currently 78 sentinel sites, hospitals and health centres across all parishes. Each is representative of the area it serves, is easily reached by the people it serves, carries out all the relevant surveillance functions, records the patients it sees each day with their signs and symptoms, and has adequately trained staff. Every site reports its sentinel data weekly to the next level: health centres report syndromic data only, while hospitals also report on additional syndromes and diseases.
The 78 sites, by parish
Clarendon (5)
- Chapelton Hospital
- Lionel Town Hospital
- May Pen Health Centre
- May Pen Hospital
- Spalding Health Centre
Hanover (5)
- Green Island Health Centre
- Hopewell Health Centre
- Lucea Health Centre
- Noel Holmes Hospital
- Sandy Bay Health Centre
Kingston and St. Andrew (9)
- Bustamante Hospital for Children
- Duhaney Park Health Centre
- Edna Manley Health Centre
- Glen Vincent Polyclinic
- Harbour View Health Centre
- Maxfield Park Health Centre
- Stony Hill Health Centre
- University Hospital of the West Indies
- UWI Health Service
Manchester (7)
- Cross Keys Health Centre
- Hargreaves Memorial Hospital
- Mandeville Health Centre
- Mandeville Hospital
- Newport Health Centre
- Percy Junor Hospital
- Porus Health Centre
Portland (4)
- Buff Bay Hospital
- Manchioneal Health Centre
- Port Antonio Health Centre
- Port Antonio Hospital
St. Ann (7)
- Alexandria Hospital
- Brown’s Town Health Centre
- Claremont Health Centre
- Moneague Health Centre
- Ocho Rios Health Centre
- St. Ann’s Bay Health Centre
- St. Ann’s Bay Hospital
St. Catherine (6)
- Christian Pen Health Centre
- Greater Portmore Health Centre
- Linstead Health Centre
- Old Harbour Health Centre
- Spanish Town Hospital
- St. Jago Park Health Centre
St. Elizabeth (5)
- Black River Health Centre
- Black River Hospital
- Maggotty Health Centre
- Santa Cruz Health Centre
- Southfield Health Centre
St. James (8)
- Cambridge Health Centre
- Catherine Hall Health Centre
- Cornwall Regional Hospital
- Doctors Surgi Clinic
- Hospiten Jamaica
- Maroon Town Health Centre
- Montego Bay Type 5 Health Centre
- Mount Salem Health Centre
St. Mary (7)
- Annotto Bay Health Centre
- Annotto Bay Hospital
- Gayle Health Centre
- Highgate Health Centre
- Oracabessa Health Centre
- Port Maria Health Centre
- Port Maria Hospital
St. Thomas (5)
- Isaac Barrant Hospital
- Morant Bay Health Centre
- Princess Margaret Hospital
- Seaforth Health Centre
- Yallahs Health Centre
Trelawny (5)
- Albert Town Health Centre
- Dewar Duncans Health Centre
- Falmouth Health Centre
- Falmouth Hospital
- Ulster Spring Hospital
Westmoreland (5)
- Darliston Health Centre
- Negril Health Centre
- Savanna-la-Mar Health Centre
- Savanna-la-Mar Hospital
- Whitehouse Health Centre
Syndromes under surveillance
Source: National Surveillance Manual
