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© 2025 Manuel et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Introduction Public health environmental surveillance has evolved, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, with wastewater-based surveillance being a prominent example. As surveillance methods expand, it is important to have a robust evaluation of surveillance systems. This consensus study will develop an evaluation framework for public health environmental surveillance, informed by the expanding practice of wastewater-based surveillance during the pandemic. Methods The public health environmental surveillance evaluation framework will be developed in five steps. In Step 1, a multinational and multidisciplinary executive group will be formed to guide the framework development process. In Step 2, candidate items will be generated by conducting relevant scoping reviews and consultation with the study executive group. In Step 3, an international electronic Delphi will be conducted over two rounds to develop consensus on items for the framework. In Step 4, the executive group will reconvene to finalize the evaluation framework, discuss standout items, and determine the dissemination strategies. Lastly, Step 5 will focus on disseminating the evaluation framework to all parties involved with or affected by wastewater-based surveillance using traditional and public-oriented methods. Discussion The Delphi consensus study will provide multidisciplinary and multinational consensus for the evaluation framework, by providing a set of minimum criteria required for the evaluation of public health environmental surveillance systems. The evaluation framework is intended to support the sustainability of environmental surveillance and improve its implementation, reliability, credibility, and value.
Author(s): Manuel DG, Bennett C, Brown E, Buckeridge DL, Freedhoff Y, Funnell S, Ishtiaq F, Wade MJ, Moher D, Gawlik BM, Kirby AE, McCarthy K, Sander B, Veillard J
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: PLoS ONE
Year: 2025
Volume: 20
Issue: 5
Online publication date: 27/05/2025
Acceptance date: 21/04/2025
Date deposited: 09/06/2025
ISSN (electronic): 1932-6203
Publisher: Public Library of Science
URL: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0310342
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310342
Data Access Statement: No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study. All relevant data from this study will be made available upon study completion.
PubMed id: 40424249
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