HealthWatch: guides, playbooks and tools.

By the Autowhat AI team · Updated 7 Oct 2026

• Blog posts

• A Health Dashboard Must Show How Old Its Numbers AreMany public-health dashboards show old and fresh numbers in the same font, so stale ICU or surveillance figures look reliable. We argue every number should carry its source and timestamp and missing reports should show as gaps, because honest screens prevent bad decisions and keep trust.
• A Health Alert Without an Owner Is Just a Red CellPublic-health command centres are good at turning things red, less good at deciding who acts. We argue every exception needs evidence, a suggested action, one named owner and a clock, delivered to district officers on their phones with approvals logged, so shared visibility becomes action.

• Guides

• What Is a Public-Health Command Centre?A public-health command centre brings surveillance, hospital capacity, helpline calls, ambulances and stock into one verified picture, ranks exceptions by risk and routes each to a named district or hospital owner. It sits on top of existing systems rather than replacing them, and keeps a record of every decision for review.
• Disease Cluster Detection: Seeing Outbreaks EarlyDisease cluster detection compares current cases in each block with that block’s seasonal baseline every day, instead of waiting for the weekly report. Joining lab results and helpline calls by area, showing evidence with each cluster and assigning an owner and next action is what turns a signal into a response.
• Hospital ICU and Bed Capacity Tracking Across a StateHospital capacity tracking should cover ICU beds, oxygen, ventilators, general beds and ambulances on one map, refreshed frequently with a timestamp on every number. When a hospital nears full, a diversion plan sent to ambulance dispatch before patients arrive keeps people away from ICUs that cannot admit them.

• Playbooks

• Monsoon Disease Surveillance Playbook for DistrictsA monsoon surveillance playbook: before the season, replay last year’s peak, set block baselines and name owners; during it, review clusters, capacity, helpline and stock daily with each exception owned; after it, replay every exception and update baselines and owners for next year.

• Comparisons

• Weekly Health Reports vs Daily Exception SurveillanceWeekly compiled reports suit official returns and trends, but clusters can grow for a week before they appear. Daily exception-based surveillance compares cases with block baselines, refreshes capacity with timestamps, joins helpline and ambulance data and assigns each exception to an owner within minutes.

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