20 October 2022 – WHO organized a training workshop on epidemic intelligence from open sources (EIOS) that was conducted 27–28 September 2022 in the WHO Country Office in Bahrain, with participants from the Ministry of Health, Health Promotion Directorate, primary health care centres, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Ministry of Health Public Health Directorate, and Ministry of Health Communication Directorate in Bahrain.
The EIOS system is currently being deployed or planned for implementation in 13 countries in WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region, including Bahrain.
The training focused on the basic concepts of surveillance and early warning and response (EWAR) and the use of EIOS in media scanning for early event detection. Training sessions included background on the EIOS initiative, concept, live demonstrations and practical application of the system through case studies that allow users to scan the open-source media to identify relevant public health information.
The workshop was followed up with a visit to a primary health care centre, Salmaniya Medical Complex and Ministry of Health Public Health Directorate to support the application of the tools at facility level.