EWARN

Early Warning and Response Network (EWARN) is a network of health facilities and public health professionals that support the early detection and timely response to epidemic-prone diseases through collection, reporting, investigation, analysis and dissemination of epidemic-related data.

EWARN was first implemented in Somalia in 2012: following its collapse during the ongoing conflict, it was relaunched in 2017. Information is now collected on mobile devices (tablets) which are preloaded with EWARN software containing the necessary forms and reports for information sharing. The software is designed to auto-generate analytical and epidemiological reports to aid decision-making.

Information is gathered by trained health workers and hospitals: they investigate alerts and collate data through district focal points which are then analysed by EWARN epidemiologists at the regional and national level. The reports are shared with health partners and health authorities for multi-level decision-making to enact effective outbreak prevention and response.

Somalia has 450 designated EWARN sites across the country. The coverage is sufficient to ensure timely alerts to prevent and respond to disease outbreaks.