Monitoring strategies should detect both acute and
chronic changes within the defined potentially affected
communities. Acute changes are those that can be manifested within weeks to months, such as acute
disease-rate changes for malaria or respiratory
infections. In contrast, chronic noncommunicable
disease-rate changes for cardiovascular disorders
evolve over a much longer period of time. The
differences in timing, and acute versus chronic
changes, help illustrate the importance of
establishing appropriate key performance indicators
(KPIs).