Introduction
Governmental authorities should establish priorities for surveillance and define what kind of information to be gathered from healthcare facilities. Many developing countries cannot afford to manage Surgical Site Infection Surveillance System (SSISS) that includes all types of surgeries; therefore a criterion should be used to select the best indicator to be monitored. Since 2004, the SSISS in São Paulo have been focused only crude rates of Surgical Site Infections (SSI) in clean surgeries.