2.4 Linking data to action

When it’s combined with epidemiological, clinical and AST data, WGS data can be integrated through analysis to guide effective public health actions. Figure 4 illustrates the importance of linking diverse data sources to produce meaningful, actionable insights.

Figure 4 Interlinkage of different data types for actionable public health results (WHO, 2020).

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An image showing four boxes labelled ‘Epidemiology (population and individual date)’, ‘Clinical data (patient and prescribing data)’, ‘WGS data (reference database)’ and ‘AST data (reference database)’, all connected via arrows to a box labelled ‘Combined analysis’. Thia last box is connected via an arrow to another box, labelled ‘Public health action (prevention and control of infections; community health interventions)’.

Figure 4 Interlinkage of different data types for actionable public health results (WHO, 2020).

To finish this section, complete Activity 4.

Having seen how WGS technology compares to existing surveillance approaches, the next section will focus on the specifics of the processes and discuss practical laboratory aspects to consider.