Sentinel General Practices: Mumps

Almost all people in Belgium have a general practitioner and therefore they are a good source of information about the health of the population. The network of sentinel GPs exist since 1979. In 2019 around 120 practices participate over all Belgium. The coverage of the network is estimated at 1.1% — 1.5% of the Belgian population.

Data is reported on different health problems (infectious and non-infectious diseases). Therefore the impact of different health problems and their characteristics can be studied. Some of them are monitored continuously over time (e.g. acute respiratory infections and influenza-like illness). Other are monitored recurrently to gather data at regular intervals that can be compared and support the authorities in charge of health policies. Varicella, tick bites or suspicion of Lyme disease, and falls among patients ≥ 65 years are themes that have been studied in the past.

比利时几乎全体民众均拥有全科医生（general practitioner），因此该群体可作为获取国民健康相关信息的优质来源。该哨兵全科医生监测网络自1979年起正式运行。2019年，全比利时共有约120家全科诊所参与该网络，其覆盖人群约占比利时总人口的1.1%至1.5%。
该网络会上报各类健康相关问题（包括感染性疾病与非感染性疾病）的数据，借此可开展针对不同健康问题的影响及其特征的研究。其中部分健康问题会被持续监测（如急性呼吸道感染与流感样病例），其余则会被周期性监测，以定期收集可用于对比分析的数据，为负责卫生政策制定的主管部门提供支撑。水痘、蜱虫叮咬或疑似莱姆病，以及65岁及以上患者的跌倒事件，均为该网络过往曾开展研究的主题。