To get a better understanding and overview of your currently implemented system, it’s necessary for us to get some information before starting SORMAS project. This information helps to improve our ability to solve problems that might arise later during the process. These questions we ask at the beginning can give us the necessary insight to anticipate and then address those concerns in a timely manner.
Goal of this document is to understand the current surveillance and outbreak management situation in the country and the needs for a potential SORMAS configuration.
We try to gather information in the following areas:
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1. Background
The Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis Systems (SORMAS) is an open-source digital platform for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response. The system allows routine disease surveillance, early detection, and management of disease outbreaks.
It started as a research project in 2015 and has since then been recognized as a Digital Public Good (DPG) and mature Digital Global Good (DGG), and it is in use in several countries across 5 WHO regions. Target beneficiaries are personnel involved in the control of epidemics from the community level to the ministry of health. This includes health staff at Emergency Operating Centers (EOCs), hospitals, points of entry, laboratory technicians, community health workers, surveillance officers and case and contact supervisors, among others.
SORMAS enables real-time multidirectional digital data exchange between beneficiaries for early detection of outbreaks and rapid response across national and regional borders. It offers modules for over 40 infectious diseases (including COVID-19) and can be used online or offline on computers or mobile smartphones/tablets. The system includes indicator- and event-based surveillance (EBS), and it is based on the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) framework.
The SORMAS Foundation is a non-profit organization whose vision is “a world in which all countries are prepared to respond to epidemics and pandemics digitally and collaboratively.” It aims to support countries in strengthening their surveillance and outbreak management systems through the implementation of SORMAS, as well as to ensure the high-quality standards and sustainability of the software itself.
The support to countries offered by the SORMAS Foundation includes the joint needs assessment, configuration, and customization of the system, trainings (using the training of trainers approach) and the follow up during the first months of use, until countries/organizations are independent from the Foundation. They are then invited to be part of the global SORMAS community and share their developments and experiences with all other users. This approach ensures the adaptation of the system to the local needs as well as its sustainable implementation.
The following document includes guiding questions with the purpose of providing the SORMAS Foundation with a better understanding and overview of the current in-country systems and the needs and gaps to be addressed. These questions together with online or in-person meetings will help with the preparation of an implementation plan for the SORMAS introduction in a country.
The document is divided in two parts:
Current situation in the country. Gathering information in three areas:
· General organisation of the surveillance system including
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stakeholders
· Infrastructure, current systems, and human
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resources
· Policies
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Current situation
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SORMAS configuration. Gathering information on the configuration needs for the countries:
· Location
· Diseases
· Identification of key SORMAS staff
Do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any issues filling in the form. Questions that you are not able to answer on the document can be discussed during a virtual or in-person meeting.
2. Current situation
2.1 Stakeholders mapping
A list of stakeholders is important before starting a SORMAS project because it helps us to plan a strong communication strategy. It also helps us in streamlining the approval process, helping to ensure that project resources are available and remain focused, and keeping information flowing.
· Which
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organisation is responsible for disease surveillance and outbreak management in your country?
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· Is there
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a Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) programme in your country?
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· Are there other relevant stakeholders in
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disease surveillance and outbreak management?
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2.2 Health system infrastructure and
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organization
For the adaptation of SORMAS to country, we need to understand the administrative levels of the health system in your country. This will give us information of all levels of reporting which helps to decide the on the reporting levels and will help decide data access rights for each level.
Please describe your health data reporting hierarchy or levels which are currently in place and fill out the table below. Feel free to add more levels or modify the existing ones if you define them in a different way.
Alternatively, you can provide this information in a separate document (e.g. excel) if you already have it available.
Level number (top to bottom) |
Description |
Number |
Level |
3 | e.g. |
National |
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Level |
2 | e.g. |
Regional |
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Level |
1 | e.g. |
District |
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Level |
0 | e.g. |
Community |
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2.3 Current digital tools and
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systems
To have a clear implementation roadmap for SORMAS, please answer all the questions listed below and be descriptive as much as possible.
· What existing digital tools are being used currently for health data reporting?
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· Is your system able to communicate with other systems? How? With which systems?
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· What are the challenges that you are facing with your current system?
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IT infrastructure
2.4 IT infrastructure
· Does your IT infrastructure run in a private cloud or do you have a 3rd party service like AWS, Microsoft Azure, etc?
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· Do you have an in-house IT department
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which is responsible for managing, maintaining and updating the servers or
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is it a 3rd party company?
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· Who is responsible to solve your L1, L2 and L3 issues in your IT hierarchy?
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· Do you have IT support teams on each reporting or facility level to support SORMAS?
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· Do they have the skills or knowledge in Linux, Zulu OpenJDK (Java 11 JDK), docker containers, GitHub, PostgreSQL, Java, domain names, networking, Java, IT security, backups, and disaster recovery plans?
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Policy documents
2.5 Policy documents
· Are there any digital strategy documents/policy documents in your country/region? (e.g.
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, digital health strategy,
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data protection guidelines)
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· Are there any additional specific rules that need to be considered for implementation in your country?
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3. SORMAS configuration
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3.1 Location
· Where would you like to deploy SORMAS (according to the table on section 1.2)?
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a) Level
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3
b) Level
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2
c) Level
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1
d) Level
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0
e) Other (specify)
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· What is the population in this area?
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(Number)
· How many health facilities would you like to cover with SORMAS?
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(Number)
· How many users are expected to use the SORMAS system daily?
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(Number)
· How many users will be using SORMAS in an offline mode with an android phone or tablet?
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(Number) (Number)
· In which language(s) will you be using SORMAS?
2. Diseases
Which diseases would you like to add to SORMAS system? On Annex 1, please mark the column as per your needs. Please mention all data variables in the last column and if your required diseases do not exist in the list, then add them and highlight them.
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3.2 Diseases
SORMAS has a default configuration with disease modules already included in it (see full list of diseases currently available in SORMAS: Disease Configuration Options · SORMAS-Foundation/SORMAS-Project Wiki · GitHub)
For the configuration of SORMAS, we need to know what are the diseases that you would like to have in the system and whether you want to collect the data in case-based or aggregate form. Once we know what are the diseases that you want to introduce in SORMAS for your country, we will carry out a mapping to see what the diseases already available and which ones need to be needed. In addition, in a later stage, we will require your case reporting forms to understand which indicators and variables will you need in SORMAS.
· Could you provide the list of notifiable diseases in your country?
· Which diseases would you like to add to SORMAS system?
3.3 Identification of key SORMAS staff
Identification of key SORMAS staff is important before implementing SORMAS because it helps to maximize maximise the value of SORMAS and its sustainability. Proper training of staff is key to reaping the full benefits of SORMAS. It is important to properly prepare for the implementation process with your team and the SORMAS end users.
Identification of trainers
Admin
Focal points in each region
Identification of participants for the trainings
Example:
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Position
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Organisation
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Region/level
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.
So, please, help us identify the training participants. These include:
· Health staff that will be future trainers (they will participate in Training of Trainers (ToTs))
· SORMAS administrative users (they will participate in Admin trainings)
· National users (e.g., national surveillance supervisors, reference laboratory officers, points of entry users)
· Users at other levels (e.g., regional surveillance officers and supervisors)
Position | Organisation | Region/level | Type of training (ToT/ user/ admin) |
Surveillance officer
MoH
Djibouti city
Surveillance officer | e.g. MoH | e.g. national | ToT |
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