The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the need for a strong integrated respiratory disease surveillance system (IDS), with a focus on Event-based Surveillance (EBS). EBS is a type of organized public health surveillance that collects and analyzes signals that are of potential risk to public health from channels outside of routine surveillance systems.

For this aim, GHD|EMPHNET, has been working with the Ministry of Health (MoH) on strengthening EBS in Morocco. On November 14 in Rabat, the MoH met with partners from GHD|EMPHNET, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) country office, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO), and other national stakeholders to assess the surveillance infrastructure including ILI/SARI and COVID19 surveillance and reporting structures followed by a thorough discussion on the implementation of activities at three pilot sites.

To train surveillance officers on internationally accepted EBS guidelines, GHD|EMPHNET conducted a training-of-trainers (ToT) workshop at the national level for 12 participants from Rabat, Tangier, and Casablanca, between November 15-17. They were trained on EBS SOPs with a focus on Community EBS – which means that information about a possible public health event is reported by people in the community through a hotline or other messaging system.

This collaboration is part of GHD|EMPHNET’s work in expanding efforts and strategies to improve rapid response to public health emergencies from the region to the globe.