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Brief Summary
Brief Summary: Flu Near You is a participatory disease surveillance system that enables the general public to report on symptoms of disease via email or smartphone application. A joint project between the HealthMap of Boston Children's Hospital and the Skoll Global Threats Fund, FNY enables citizen scientists and volunteers to contribute their data to improve disease surveillance for influenza-like illness at the community level. In operation since November 2011, FNY has demonstrated strong correlation with CDC surveillance systems and may offer insight into disease transmission among non-medically attended populations experiencing ILI. With nearly four years worth of baseline data, SGTF and HealthMap have worked to enable access to aggregate data from FNY for use by state and local health departments. This session will focus on how health departments might employ FNY data in their work, how to gain access to these data, and strategies that health agencies can pursue if they seek to increase participation in their jurisdiction.