Monitoring health in the war-affected areas of the former Yugoslavia, 1992–1993

In October 1992 the World Health Organization (WHO) set up a health monitoring programme in the former Yugoslavia to obtain information on communicable disease upon which to base decisions about medical aid requirements. This paper covers the first year of the programme (October 1992–October 1993) and details the steps taken to set it up. Information was sought from personal contacts, ‘ad hoc’ sources (United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations) and the health authorities of the regions of former Yugoslavia. An attempt was made to establish a sentinel monitoring system to provide routine data to allow health predictions to be made. A bulletin was produced to disseminate surveillance results and health advice. The system obtained sufficient data (mostly from ‘ad hoc’ sources) for WHO to take informed decisions about medical aid but the sentinel system was not established successfully.