Nearly year-round, the South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) participates in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) — the world's largest continuously conducted health survey system in the world. The BRFSS is a random telephone survey of non-institutionalized individuals aged 18 or older that is used to track health risks, behaviors and preventative health practices in the United States.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) in 1987 in response to indications that the United States low birthweight and infant mortality rates were no longer declining as rapidly as in past years. In 1991, South Carolina (SC) PRAMS was implemented through a collaborative agreement between the CDC, the Office of Public Health Statistics and Information Services and the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health (DPH).
The Children's Health Assessment Survey (CHAS) is the first survey of its kind in South Carolina to measure the health characteristics of children, ages 0 through 17.
