Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Community Perspectives On The Benefits And Risks Of Technologically Enhanced Communicable Disease Surveillance Systems: A Report On Four Community Juries, Christopher J. Degeling, Stacy M. Carter, Antoine M. Van Oijen, Jeremy Mcanulty, Vitali Sintchenko, Annette J. Braunack-Mayer, Trent Yarwood, Jane Johnson, Gwendolyn L. Gilbert

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Background Outbreaks of infectious disease cause serious and costly health and social problems. Two new technologies – pathogen whole genome sequencing (WGS) and Big Data analytics – promise to improve our capacity to detect and control outbreaks earlier, saving lives and resources. However, routinely using these technologies to capture more detailed and specific personal information could be perceived as intrusive and a threat to privacy. Method Four community juries were convened in two demographically different Sydney municipalities and two regional cities in New South Wales, Australia (western Sydney, Wollongong, Tamworth, eastern Sydney) to elicit the views of well-informed community members …