The Integrated Biosurveillance Branch serves to provide early warning and increase situational awareness of infectious diseases and other health threats to the DOD enterprise. It also aims to improve strategic coordination and collaboration to enhance biodefense, aligning with the priorities outlined in the inaugural 2023 Biodefense Posture Review. IB’s products aid DOD leadership in making informed decisions for timely public health interventions and assist the Combatant Commands in formulating Force Health Protection guidelines or adjusting priority levels in specific regions and countries.
IB is a pivotal component of a global network that maintains crucial partnerships and facilitates the exchange of surveillance information with DOD partners and interagency counterparts that include the National Center for Medical Intelligence, the Department of Homeland Security/National Biosurveillance Integration Center, CDC, the Department of State, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
Infectious disease surveillance has become a cornerstone of global public health. The emphasis on biosurveillance has facilitated the involvement of new actors to take an active role in stopping the spread of outbreaks and in generating new technical means to identify potential health threats as early as possible. IB serves as a comprehensive "One-Stop Shop" that collects, analyzes, and distributes biosurveillance information and responds to the demands of the DOD enterprise.
Integrators of Biosurveillance Information
IB is composed of three sections: Alert and Response Operations, Innovation and Evaluation, and Geographic Information System. IB generates a variety of recurring and ad hoc health surveillance reports that include:
- Executive Summaries
- Forecast Reports
- Reportable Medical Event Summaries
- SPOT Reports
- Surveillance Summaries
- Weekly AFHSD Health Surveillance Update
IB epidemiologists identify potential public health threats via all-hazards horizon scanning of open-source surveillance data and communicate on these events through various formal channels. IB also conducts syndromic and indicator-based surveillance of Military Health System beneficiaries through systems such as the Disease Reporting System internet and DOD Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics. IB products are accessible in the Health Surveillance Explorer, an interactive web-mapping application that is CAC-enabled.
The HSE was created by the GIS Section to provide Combatant Command decision-makers with timely, relevant, actionable, and comprehensive health surveillance information to promote, maintain, and enhance the health of active duty service members and other Military Health System beneficiaries. It provides a near real-time picture of health threats, disease outbreaks, and other events of DoD relevance occurring worldwide. Additional information about the HSE is available at https://health.mil/hse.
How does the IB Branch support the DoD enterprise through biosurveillance?
- Early warning and risk awareness of health threats to DOD populations
- Open-source epidemic intelligence
- In-depth surveillance for Geographic Combatant Commands military exercises
- Integration of military and civilian surveillance data and information
- DOD and interagency collaboration
- Cooperation and information sharing with allies and partners
- Outbreak surveillance and reporting
- Forecasting analysis of respiratory diseases such as COVID-19, RSV, and influenza
- Syndromic surveillance via the DOD Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics
- Management of the Health Surveillance Explorer for near real-time health surveillance