Epidemiology
Epidemiology is “the study of the distribution and determinants of health and disease in a population.” To put it more simply, epidemiologists are “disease detectives” who use data to answer questions like: Who is getting sick? What is making them sick? Where is the problem occurring? When is the problem occurring? Why are some people more affected? How big is the health problem in our population? How can we better understand the disease? How can we prevent others from getting sick?
The Epidemiology Program is a part of the Division of Epidemiology, Surveillance, & Data Management within the Fresno County Department of Public Health. The Epidemiology Program focuses on the health of the various populations that make up the Fresno County community. The primary aim of the Program is to use data to monitor and improve the health of the local community. Epidemiologists, in collaboration with other Department of Public Health programs, participate in disease surveillance and health data collection; disease investigation; data analysis, assessment, and management; and health communication. The Program works with other units within the Department as well as providing services to other agencies and the public.
Additional Data Resources
Fresno County Department of Public Health Reports and Statistics
Public Health Epidemiologists produce several reports on disease statistics. All data posted is considered provisional unless otherwise stated.
Public Health Data & Statistics Webpage
Learn about our community's health and wellness and compare indicators for your community against state averages, county values, and target goals. Discover areas of excellence and improvement in your community.
The Health Priority Index (HPI-Fresno), developed by the Fresno County Department of Public Health, compiles data from national, state, and local sources to provide a visual depiction of the level of health burden within each census tract in Fresno County.
More information about the HPI-Fresno can be found here.
The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), on behalf of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), released Version 4.0 of the California Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool (CalEnviroScreen). CalEnviroScreen identifies California communities by census tract that are disproportionately burdened by, and vulnerable to, multiple sources of pollution.
CDPH has designed a comprehensive interactive tool to explore over 15 years of California condition-specific mortality burden data, using a range of measures, displayed at the statewide, county, community, and census tract levels, with interactive rankings, charts, maps, and trend visualizations. The public tool is a work in progress and was designed for use by health departments and community partners to provide systematic scientific insight to inform public health planning, evaluation, and action.
The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) dashboard provides data on patient characteristics in general acute care hospital settings in California by county and health care facility.
This dashboard is a result of ongoing collaboration between the CDPH, the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI), formerly the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, the Department of Justice, and the California Health Care Foundation. County level opioid data on deaths, ED visits, hospitalizations, and prescriptions by type of drug, geographic location, time, and demographics can be accessed.
This dashboard provides state and county-level health data on Women, Infants, Children, Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN), and Adolescents.
This CDC dashboard displays local (county, zip code, & grouped census tract) data on deaths from unintentional drug overdoses, suicide, homicide, and all firearm injury deaths.
Reporting Requirements
Disease reporting is the foundation of public health surveillance. The reporting of specific diseases is critical to public health and required by law. For more information on Disease or Animal Bite Reporting, please visit the Disease Reporting Requirements for Health Care Providers and Laboratories webpage.
Disease Reporting Requirements
Contact the Epidemiology Team
To request data or project support from the Epidemiology Program, please fill out the Epidemiology Program Request Form. You may also use this form to submit questions to Epidemiology Program staff.