First African Country to Adopt EIOS

Nigeria's public health institute, known as NCDC (Nigeria Centre for Disease Control), has just been approved by the World Health Organization as the first country in Africa to adopt the EIOS (Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources) tool. This is a great step forward and a call for celebration for all Nigerians as such technology will assist in the advancement of Nigeria's disease risk and prevention.

Pictured above is a group of mostly NCDC employees as they attended a three-day workshop organized by the World Health Organization which helped train them on how to use the EIOS tool.

Already existing within the NCDC are two types of early detection surveillance tools, indicator-based surveillance and event-based surveillance. The newly incorporated EIOS platforms will help support NCDC's event-based surveillance functions. The EIOS initiative has a goal to "create a unified, all-hazards, One Health approach by using open source information for early detection, verification and assessment of public health risks and threats". It is our hope that these new EIOS tools will provide the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control with increased functionality, preventing illness and saving lives with early detection for rapid response.

Bibliography:

“WHO Supports Nigeria to Become First African Country to Adopt New Epidemic Intelligence Tool.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 8 Nov. 2019, https://www.afro.who.int/news/who-supports-nigeria-become-first-african-country-adopt-new-epidemic-intelligence-tool.