Information from morbidity reporting is used in the development of disease control programs, indetermining patterns of disease, and in conducting epidemiologic investigations, all of which may directly effect the public´s health.
Despite of these proven benefits of early identification of disease outbreaks, underreporting of communicable disease continues in most of the countries, and Korea is not an exception. The Korean public health authorities receive reports of only 10-20 percent of the cases of communicable disease; such underreporting hinders public health efforts to decrease morbidity and mortality.
Reasons for physicians not to comply with reporting requirements range from the view that reporting is unimportant to the belief that it violates the privacy implicit in the doctor-patient relationship.
Among several practical suggestions to improve the reporting performance of physicians are redefining the reportable diseases, easing some strict measures on patients and doctors as well who do not report the cases, more frequent information on communicable diseases, and reward system for physicians and patients.
Active participation of laboratories and surveillance system are also recommended. This paper particularly emphasize the value of active surveillance of communicable diseases.
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