An Open Source Web Application for the Surveillance and Prevention of the Impacts on Public Health of Extreme Meteorological Events: the SUPREME System

Every year, many deaths or health problems can be directly linked to heat waves. Several jurisdictions worldwide have developed intervention plans that are applied in case of extreme heat events; beyond their emergency sections, these plans generally include preventive measures to be implemented every year.

While some local and regional information systems have been implemented in some Canadian cities in the last five years for surveillance purposes, no such systems existed at the provincial level. In the context of the 2006-2012 Action Plan on Climate Change of the Government of Quebec, a real-time, integrated system for the surveillance and monitoring of extreme heat events has been implemented, within a more general approach dealing with all types of extreme meteorological events.

Results: After conducting a detailed needs analysis, the Quebec National Institute for Public Health developed and implemented an integrated web application leveraging open source software for the real-time Surveillance and Prevention of Extreme Meteorological Events impacts on public health, called the SUPREME system.