Health Alerts*
for authorized users only
Last updated on 03/08/2017
A disease outbreak refers to an epidemic event or a health issue arisen in a specific geographic area and carries a set of information notified by email to travelers and country offices (document attachments and internet/intranet links to useful resources).
How to get there
Log-on using your Username and Password, click on "Global Functions" on the top navigation bar and select "Health Alerts".
The module offers the following functionalities:
a “Filter selection criteria” section to filter the data by disease and status; a “Disease Outbreaks” tab to manage disease outbreaks and country alerts; an “Alert Monitoring” tab for reporting purposes and a “Download as Excel file” link to export the data
- Disease Outbreaks Tab
- Country Alerts management
- Disease outbreaks status and related actions
- E-mail notifications
- Health alerts monitoring
1. The Disease Outbreak Tab
A disease outbreak refers to an epidemic event or a health issue. The disease outbreak tab is used to insert specific documentation and links to be shared with people travelling for FAO and with country offices.
- Add a disease outbreak
- Edit a disease outbreak
- Delete a disease outbreak
- Activate a disease outbreak
- Deactivate a disease outbreak
On the disease outbreaks tab, click on “Add disease and related alerts” and complete form as indicated below.
- Name*: Select a disease. If not available, please contact the COIN Help Desk ([email protected]) to update the list.
- Attachments: Add the documentation related to the disease.
- Click on “Attach”
- Click on “Browse” to select and upload a document
- To upload another document, click on “Attach” again
- Attachments must be in PDF, Word or Excel format
- Attachments cannot exceed 3Mb. For heavier resources, add a link.
- The title of the uploaded document is displayed in the outgoing emails, so ensure that it is meaningful and easy to understand before uploading it.
Click on “Delete” to remove an attachment.
- Links: Add useful internet/intranet links related to the disease.
- Click on “Add links” to insert:
- the “URL*” (web address) of the page (compulsory)
- a meaningful “Title” to display for the URL (optional). If no title is added, the entire URL will be displayed in the outgoing emails.
2. Click on “Add”
3. To add another link, Click on “Add link”
Click on “Remove” to remove a link
- Click on “Add links” to insert:
- Internal comments: For internal use only. The comments are not included in the email messages.
All fields marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory.
At least one document or one link must be uploaded to save the disease outbreak.
Once the disease outbreak section is complete, it is possible to:
1. Save the disease outbreak by clicking on the “Save” button and complete the “Country Alerts” section at a later stage (no emails is sent to travellers), or
2. Complete the “Country Alerts” section to list the countries where the disease is currently active.
Disease outbreaks can be modified in “Draft”, “Scheduled” or “Active” status.
- Select the disease to be modified and right-click on the row to open the action menu
- Click on “Edit”
- Modify the disease information and/or list of countries as required
- Click on “Save” button to apply changes
Upon save, if an URL or an attachment was added or deleted, the country offices for which the alert is “Active” are immediately notified by email.
Disease outbreaks and related country alerts can be deleted altogether only if the disease outbreak is in “Draft” or “Scheduled” status. To do so, select the disease to be deleted, right-click on the row to open the action menu and click on “Delete”. Deleted records cannot be retrieved.
Once the disease outbreak data and the country alerts list are complete, the data must be activated so that email notifications are sent to the travellers and country offices.
- Select the disease to be activated and right-click on the row to open the action menu
- Click on “Edit”
- Click on the “Activate” button to schedule the activation for all Country Alerts. Only future dates are eligible as activation date. By default, the system sets the activation date on the following day.
- The status of the disease outbreak turns to “Scheduled”.
- The status of the disease outbreak turns to “Active” on the selected activation date.
To deactivate an active disease outbreak and stop email notifications for all involved countries:
- Select the disease outbreak to be deactivated
- Right-click on the row to open the action menu
- Click on “Edit”
- Click on “Deactivate” button to deactivate the disease outbreak and all related country alerts immediately
Disease outbreaks can be deactivated only for a single country.
Once the disease outbreak section is complete, the “Country Alerts” section should be filled to list the countries where the disease is currently active. Email notifications are sent only when the list of countries is loaded and the disease outbreak is activated.
- Add/remove groups of country alerts
- Add/remove a single country alert
- Activate country alerts
- Deactivate country alerts
Add/remove groups of country alerts
- To add groups of countries select the region in the “Region” field (or “All” for all countries) and tick the “Add/Remove all countries for the selected region”.
- To remove all the countries for a specific region, select the concerned region in the “Region” field (or “All” for all countries) and untick the “Add/Remove all countries for the selected region”.
- To remove a single country, click on the “Remove” link next to the country to be removed.
- Scroll down the page and click on “Save” button to close the window.
Add/remove a single country alert
Click on the link “Add alert” to select the countries where the disease is currently active and that should receive the alert.
Open the “Select countries” dropdown menu, select the country and click on the “Add” link
To remove a single country from the list, click on the “Remove” link next to the country to be removed.
Note:
- the “Remove” functionality is available only in “Draft” or “Scheduled” status. Once the disease outbreak is active, the country alerts can only be deactivated.
- the “Select Countries” dropdown box is automatically refreshed to prevent the user from entering twice the same country.
- Click on the “Activate” button at the bottom of the page.
- Insert the date of activation from which the health alert notifications should be sent. By default, the system proposes the following day. If a present or past date is chosen, a warning message is displayed. To change the date, click on the calendar icon and select any other future date.
- Click on the “Activate” button.
- The status turns to “Scheduled”.
- The email notifications will be sent as from the activation date.
- Once activated, the status turns to “Active”.
Note:
- the disease outbreak information and the list of Country Alerts can be modified even when the status is “Scheduled”.
- It is not possible to have more than one “Active” or “Scheduled” Country Alert for the same country for a specific disease outbreak.
Country Alerts in “Active” status may be deactivated only for a single country.
To deactivate all countries at the same time, use the “Deactivate” button to close the disease outbreak.
- Right-click on the country row to open the action menu
- Click on “Deactivate”
- Click on the “Save” button
Note:
- Closed alerts cannot be re-activated. If an alert is closed by mistake, it should be added again.
- Closed alerts remain available as historical record.
3. Disease outbreak status and related actions
The status of the Country Alerts related to a disease outbreak define the disease outbreak status, as follows:
The mailing system notifies health alerts as described below. For any changes, please contact [email protected].
The “Alert Monitoring” tab is a reporting tool that allows to filter and group the alerts in different ways.
Applicable filtering and grouping levels are as follows:
- Disease: select either “All” diseases or a single disease
- Status: Draft, Scheduled, Active, Closed (historical records)
- Region: Self-explanatory
- Level of view:
- By Country: list of diseases for each country involved in a disease outbreak
- By Disease: list of countries involved in specific disease outbreaks with a grand total of notifications
- “Notifications” column: Number of emails sent to travellers
Alert Monitoring - Level of view: Country
Alert Monitoring - Level of view: Disease
The data can be downloaded for both tabs in Excel format.
