Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan today launched a new state-of-the art information platform to monitor public health surveillance in seven states in New Delhi.<br />''<br />''<br />''A health ministry statement said the initiative called integrated disease surveillance programme of integrated health information platform (IHIP) will provide near-real-time data to policy makers for detecting outbreaks, reducing the morbidity and mortality and lessening disease burden in the populations and better health systems.<br />''<br />''Speaking on the occasion Sudan said  the success of this platform would depend primarily on the quality of data shared by the states.  She urged the state secretaries to be earnest in adopting this platform to strengthen early outbreak detection and informed public health response. <br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">Congratulating the government for making this ambitious undertaking a reality, Dr Henk Bekedam, WHO representative to India, said it is imperative to collaborate with the private sector to ensure the sustainability of this initiative.</span><br />