Communicable diseases management in disasters: an analysis of improvement measures since 2005, Islamic Republic of Iran

Background: due to the importance of managing communicable diseases in disaster situations, the Centre for Communicable Diseases Management [CCDM] within the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education has taken measures to improve routine communicable diseases management systems in normal and emergency situations

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Aims: this study aimed to explore the improvement measures since 2005

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Methods: a qualitative document analysis method was used to analyse all documents related to communicable diseases management from March 2003 to the end of 2014 in the CCDM and on official websites of related organizations

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Results: seventy-two documents addressing communicable diseases management in disasters were included in the final analysis. The findings were summarized in 4 phases of the disaster management cycle corresponding to 5 core and support functions of the surveillance system

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Conclusions: the findings highlighted improvements in communicable diseases management in disasters, including interorganizational collaboration, information flow and use of new technologies such as web-based or mobile phone-based systems