NOIDA, July 10 -- The Gautam Budh Nagar health department has rolled out Unified Disease Surveillance Portal (UDSP), a digital platform that will enable real-time monitoring and response of infectious diseases from village level, to ensure proactive disease control, said health department officials on Wednesday. According to officials, the platform has been designed to track 20 notifiable diseases with location-specific accuracy, ranging from vector-borne, vaccine-preventable illnesses to Covid-19 and influenza-like infections. Uttar Pradesh became the first state in the country to develop and launch UDSP in May 2023, said health department officials. "With real-time reporting, we can now act much faster to control outbreaks before they spread. Earlier, there used to be delays between data collection however, UDSP removes that gap. The focus is now on timely detection, reporting, and intervention," said Gautam Budh Nagar chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Narendra Kumar. One of the key changes is the integration of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANM) at the village level, said officials. "These health workers will conduct surveys and add real-time data into the portal. The data will be sent to authorities, allowing for swift response and containment measures", said CMO Kumar. A training session for doctors and health workers was organised at the CMO's office on July 3, district health officials said....