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NJSHAD History and Acknowledgments

The current NJSHAD system (NJSHAD II) was adopted and adapted by the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) in 2007-2008. It is based on the Utah Department of Health's Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health (IBIS-PH) and replaced NJDOH's original health data query system, NJSHAD I.

In 2001, the NJDOH Center for Health Statistics (CHS) adopted the Missouri Department of Health's Missouri Information for Community Assessment (MICA) online query system and adapted it for New Jersey. The SHAD I system contained birth, death, matched infant death-birth, fetal death, and marriage data and allowed users to make custom data tables and map outcomes at the county level. However, the MICA-based system as implemented was not able to adequately handle survey data, such as data from the NJ Behavioral Risk Factor Survey. In 2006, work was begun to find a satisfactory replacement for NJSHAD I that could query survey data in addition to population data like vital events.

In 2007, it was decided that Utah's IBIS-PH system would be able to do that and much more. IBIS-PH has query capabilities and it was also developed such that web content (tabulated numeric data, graphs, and public health contextual information) could be stored in a database. Web pages are generated dynamically from the data stored in the IBIS-PH database. This allows for bits of information to be updated without requiring re-publishing of a static webpage. In addition, it allows for maintenance of the pages to be distributed among multiple programs in the organization. Significant assistance in database design, database data entry interface, and web reporting was provided by Garth Braithwaite and Paul Leo through a contract with Software Technology Group, Inc. in Salt Lake City, Utah and by Lois Haggard of the New Mexico Department of Health, formerly of the Utah Department of Health.

EPHT NJSHAD is a collaborative effort involving multiple offices and divisions in the New Jersey Department of Health. Funding for NJSHAD II implementation and enhancement is provided in part through the NJDOH Consumer, Environmental, and Occupational Health Services' Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) Cooperative Agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. NJSHAD's contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the US Department of Health and Human Services.

States or others wishing to adopt the IBIS-PH technology should visit the IBIS-PH Community of Practice and/or contact the IBIS-PH director at the Utah DOH by emailing ibis@utah.gov.