The Ghana Health Service’s Disease Surveillance Department is taking proactive measures to strengthen the country’s disease surveillance system by conducting a workshop aimed at enhancing the capacity of Deputy Directors of Public Health (DDPHs). The workshop focuses on improving the use of the Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS) for monitoring and managing data related to priority diseases and public health events across districts in their respective regions.

This initiative comes as part of Ghana’s ongoing efforts to improve its public health surveillance infrastructure. Notably, in 2020, the country adopted the 3rd Edition Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) Technical Guidelines, reinforcing its commitment to enhancing public health monitoring through electronic systems. The adoption of SORMAS as the eIDSR tool has been a key milestone in this process.

Supported by the World Health Organization, the training forms part of a larger initiative to bolster disease surveillance and response capabilities throughout Ghana. In addition to the DDPH training, similar programs for District Directors are being carried out nationwide to ensure a unified and effective approach to public health surveillance and response.