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Surveillance Systems

A surveillance system is a series of surveys conducted again and again to monitor long-term trends in public health. It is used to examine public health issues across several years, to track the trends, compare health among groups of people, and determine whether something is improving or worsening for a specific group of people.

Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity

Nutrition

  • School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS)
    The School Health Policies and Programs Study is a national survey periodically conducted to assess school health policies and practices at the state, district, school, and classroom levels. This includes nutrition services, education, and policies.
  • School Health Profiles (Profiles)
    The School Health Profiles is a system of surveys assessing school health policies and practices in states, large urban school districts, territories, and tribal governments. This includes school health education requirements, nutrition and dietary behavior topics and school health policies and practices related to nutrition and other topics.

Physical Activity

  • Explanation of US Physical Activity Surveys
    Several different national surveys track physical activity in many age groups and at several levels for the United States national public health objectives. This section provides background information understanding and comparing the various physical activity surveys.

Breastfeeding

  • U.S. National Immunization Survey (NIS)
    This nationwide survey provides current national, state, and selected urban-area estimates of vaccination coverage rates for U.S. children ages 19 to 35 months. Since July 2001, breastfeeding questions have been asked on the NIS to assess the population’s breastfeeding practices.
  • Infant Feeding Practices Survey II
    CDC is collaborating with researchers from the Food and Drug Administration to conduct this nationwide longitudinal study which focuses on infant feeding practices and the diets of women from their 3rd trimester to 12 months postpartum.
  • Maternity Care Practices Survey (mPINC)
    CDC has developed a survey of all labor and delivery service facilities in the United States in an effort to monitor maternity care practices associated with successful breastfeeding promotion and support. This systematic data collection of nationwide breastfeeding-related maternity care practices occurs every other year; the first survey was carried out in 2007, the second in 2009.
  • HealthStyles Survey
    Healthstyles is a private proprietary national marketing survey that annually collects health-related opinions of men and women aged 18 years and above. Because Healthstyles includes a large, demographically diverse sample of the U.S. population, it reflects current social and cultural norms. CDC has contributed breastfeeding questions to the survey since 1999.
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