The Early Warning Alert and Response Network (EWARN) has been launched in Djibouti to strengthen the country’s surveillance system for priority and epidemic-prone diseases. The system will allow health authorities to receive high quality epidemiological data that is accurate, complete and available on a real-time basis.

The launch took place as part of a three-day workshop that was held in Djibouti city from 5 to 7 November 2019 during which participants came to learn about the concept of early detection and response to epidemic-prone diseases. Their capacities and skills were strengthened for the capturing of epidemiological data on the electronic-based system and they were familiarized with the effective use of validation and verification of data entered on the system. The roles of users involved at the different levels of the health system were defined, and the effective use of the EWARN mobile application to report real-time and high quality data was discussed in details.

The workshop was organized by the Infectious Hazard Preparedness (IHP) unit of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme in the Eastern Mediterranean Region Office (EMRO) in collaboration with the WHO Country Office (WCO) and the Ministry of Health. In addition to the IHP expert, two more EMRO facilitators from the Information Technology and Telecommunication unit helped run the workshop to train participants on the online platform. Among the 40 participants who attended the workshop eight represented the National Institute of Public Health in Djibouti and five came from the five regions outside the capital.

IHP and WCO Djibouti will be closely following up with the participants in the coming period to make sure that the national health system can fully benefit from what the EWARN system has to offer. This launch is expected to provide a great boost for the country’s routine surveillance system as the use of digitized health data starts to be officially utilized for the first time in the country’s history.