Public health surveillance during the 2023-2024 holiday season

Abstract

The intensification of Public Health Surveillance (VSP, for the Spanish original) during the holiday season, for the 2023 season and the beginning of 2024, made it possible to identify and, in some cases, control health and epidemiological risks.

Materials and Methods: A descriptive study of intensified public health surveillance during the end-of-year season, including fireworks and environmental health surveillance (food, alcoholic beverages, and toys).

Results: In environmental health surveillance through operations targeting food, alcoholic beverages and toys, health and safety measures were applied for non-compliance with regulations due to altered, fraudulent, or adulterated products, non-compliance with labeling requirements, and non-compliance with hygiene and health conditions, resulting in the freezing, seizure, and destruction of 2,358.3 kg of food and 2,365.8 liters of alcoholic beverages.

Epidemiological surveillance conducted intensified monitoring of injuries caused by fireworks, recording 127 injured people, of which 32 were children and adolescents, and 95 cases were recorded in adults. As for outbreaks of Foodborne Illnesses (ETA, for the Spanish original), there was a 75 % decrease in incidents compared to the previous year.

Conclusions: A 29.6 % increase in cases of injuries caused by fireworks was observed during the intensified surveillance period of 2023-2024 compared to the previous season. Through the operational strategy, risk factors in environmental health surveillance were identified and controlled, preventing the possible incidence of health effects from the consumption of unsuitable food or alcohol, as well as from toys that do not comply with labeling or documentation standards, positively impacting the health of the inhabitants of the city.