Blog examines strategies for obtaining epidemiological data during an emergency

In this post in the PLoS "Speaking of Medicine" blog, Ruby Siddiqui, an epidemiologist with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) based in London, highlights a recent news story in which the organization reports "[m]ortality rates in a refugee camp in South Sudan are nearly double the threshold for an emergency" and examines how such data are obtained in an emergency situation. "Getting good data might not seem the first priority in an emergency, but it is essential to understand and respond appropriately to the needs of the population affected," she writes and outlines a number of techniques for collecting epidemiological data during an emergency (8/21).