Playbook
Monsoon disease surveillance: a playbook for district health teams.
Every monsoon brings the same pressure: rising fever cases, busy hospitals and a flood of calls. The districts that cope best decide who does what before the season starts.
Before the season
- Replay last season’s peak week: when was the first signal, and when did anyone act?
- Set seasonal baselines per block from past years.
- Confirm which facilities report capacity, and how often.
- Name an owner for clusters, capacity and stock in every district.
- Agree how district officers will receive and act on the daily brief on their phones.
During the season
| Daily task | Owner | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Review clusters against baseline | District surveillance officer | Each cluster with an action and an owner |
| Check ICU, oxygen and ventilators | Hospital owner | Diversion suggested before beds run out |
| Watch helpline and ambulance volume | Control room | Spikes joined to the same districts |
| Check stock and cold chain | District stores | Shortfalls raised as exceptions |
| Morning brief | Each district | Decisions closed in one tap |
After the season
- Replay every exception: owner, time and closure.
- Compare districts on time to act, not just case totals.
- Update baselines and owners for next year.
Case definitions, treatment and vector-control protocols come from your health programme; this playbook covers the operating rhythm around them.
How HealthWatch does it
HealthWatch is a public-health command centre for health secretaries, mission directors and district health officers. It pulls surveillance and HMIS data, lab results and facility reports per district; refreshes ICU, oxygen and ventilator availability every 15 minutes; and joins helpline cases and ambulance response to the same districts. Cases are compared with the seasonal baseline by block, clusters are raised with evidence, and every exception is ranked and assigned to a district or hospital owner. Each district gets a morning brief on WhatsApp with decisions that close in one tap, and every exception keeps its owner, time and closure for the weekly review. Every number keeps its source and timestamp, so stale or estimated data is never hidden. It runs on web and WhatsApp, on managed cloud, in your own VPC or on-premises.
Clinical and programme decisions stay with your health officials and their protocols; the command centre puts the evidence and the owner in front of them sooner.
Questions
How should a district prepare for monsoon disease season?
Replay last season’s peak week, set seasonal baselines per block, confirm capacity reporting and name an owner for clusters, capacity and stock in every district.
What should district health teams review daily in monsoon?
Clusters against baseline, ICU and oxygen capacity, helpline and ambulance volume, and stock, with each exception assigned to an owner.
Does the same approach work for heat waves?
The operating rhythm of baseline, exceptions, owners and daily briefs applies to heat waves, vaccination drives and mass gatherings too.
See it on your own data. HealthWatch — Outbreaks and ICU load, one screen. Book a 30-minute working session with an engineer.