New case definitions and thresholds for environmental notifiable medical conditions in South Africa: Pesticide, lead and mercury poisoning

Notifiable medical conditions (NMCs) are diseases that pose significant public health risks, and may result in outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics with high morbidity and mortality rates. The World Health Organization provides an overarching framework for countries to meet obligations related to data collection, processing and notification of and rapid response to, as needed, cases of NMCs. South Africa has recently introduced new case definitions for the three NMCs related to environmental exposures: poisoning by agricultural or stock remedies (pesticides), lead and mercury. In this article, the revised case definitions and processes for reporting of NMCs are outlined. We also discuss the benefits and challenges of processing and using NMC data, and urge more widespread and effective participation in the process of notifying these important environmental medical conditions.