Guidelines for presentation of surveillance data

Data presentation is the basis for describing data and generating hypotheses for further testing. Data can be summarised in a number of ways to support the identification of patterns. Effective data presentation requires an understanding of the principles introduced in this guide.

This document provides guidance to support epidemiologists and surveillance experts in producing tables, graphs and maps to show the results of their data analyses following harmonised principles and practices. It aims to maximise the potential of presentation tools to depict relevant patterns in data by addressing key areas, such as how to frame the message and how to choose the appropriate visual presentation.