Epidemic intelligence

Like a railway for real-time data, epidemic intelligence delivers vital signals where they’re needed—on time, on track, and ready to drive smarter decisions.

Epidemic intelligence
Rabi Usman, Senior Technical Advisor at Resolve to Save Lives, participates in an inception prototyping workshop in Nigeria. Image credit: Resolve to Save Lives.

The challenge

Too often, data on infectious diseases is scattered, incomplete or out of reach, slowing down outbreak detection and response and putting lives at risk

The solution

Epidemic intelligence supports countries to better collect, share and leverage real-time data to prevent epidemics worldwide.

The impact

Real-time data enables better decision-making and resource use during public health emergencies, and helps detect, report and contain outbreaks more quickly.

Explore

Partners

World Health Organisation (WHO)

Benchmarks for health emergencies

We partner with the World Health Organization to standardize best practices for preparedness, including developing a benchmarking tool to simplify and accelerate preparedness planning under International Health Regulations.

The cost of health care worker infections

In our advocacy efforts to protect health care workers, we released a joint report with the World Bank to calculate the true cost of health care worker infections during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as wider socioeconomic implications.

In depth

How epidemic intelligence works

Countries have made progress in detecting outbreaks faster, but many surveillance systems still operate in silos across different sectors. To fully understand public health risks and take effective action, decision-makers need integrated, multi-sectoral data.

Our approach aligns with WHO’s strategy for Strengthening Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness, Response, and Resilience by addressing the systems, governance and financing needed to get the right information to the right people at the right time:

Systems: Allows data to be collected, accessed, and used for public health decision-making. Our approach helps countries identify priority information products for different audiences, analyze and communicate insights derived from existing data through these products, and strengthen data collection and management systems to efficiently support the process

Governance: Ensures that actors and institutions work together by fostering collaboration, leveraging political will, and efficiently using resources to support data-driven public health decision-making. Resolve to Save Lives supports countries to define a clear vision and identify the appropriate people, processes, and tools to efficiently implement governance structures.

Financing: Our approach supports countries to effectively mobilize for new resources, accelerate disbursement to demonstrate impact, and identify pathways for sustaining gains.

How we support Epidemic intelligence

We apply collaborative surveillance across every stage of an outbreak—effectively using data to plan, predict, detect and respond—so health systems can act faster and more effectively:

  • Plan for prevention and preparedness: Using data to inform institutional budgets, strategies, and “always-on“ preparednes.
  • Monitor and forecast risk: Anticipating when and where outbreaks are likely to occur to reduce the risk and mitigate the impact before the first case
  • Detect, assess, and respond: Identifying outbreaks quickly and taking actions to prevent them from becoming epidemics
  • Monitor and adjust responses: Triangulating data across sources to improve responses to epidemics, protect populations and save lives

We take a multi-pronged approach to Collaborative Surveillance implementation, consistent with WHO’s strategy for Strengthening Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness, Response, and Resilience, by addressing the Systems, Governance, and Financing required to provide the right information, to the right audience, at the right time.

Systems

Allows data to be collected, accessed, and used for public health decision making. Our approach helps countries identify priority information products for different audiences, analyze and communicate insights derived from existing data through these products, and strengthen data collection and management systems to efficiently support the process.

Governance

Ensures that actors and institutions work together by fostering collaboration, leveraging political will, and efficiently using resources to support data-driven public health decision making. Our approach supports countries to define a clear vision and identify the appropriate people, processes, and tools to efficiently implement governance structures. 

Financing

Catalyzes system development and sustains existing systems. Our approach supports countries to effectively mobilize for new resources, accelerate disbursement to demonstrate impact, and identify pathways for sustaining gains.

Consistent with WHO’s strategy for ‘Strengthening Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness, Response, and Resilience”, we take a multi-pronged approach to Collaborative Surveillance implementation by addressing the Systems, Governance, and Financing required to provide the right data, to the right audience, at the right time.

Systems

Allows data to be collected, accessed, and used for public health decision making. Our approach supports countries to identify priority information products for different audiences, analyze and communicate those data, and strengthen the data collection and management systems to efficiently transform data to insights.

Governance

Ensures that the structures are in place to support the movement and secure storage of data. Our approach supports countries to define a clear vision and identify the appropriate people, processes, and tools to efficiently implement governance structures.

Financing

Catalyzes system development and sustains existing systems. Our approach supports countries to effectively mobilize for new resources, accelerate disbursement to demonstrate impact, and identify pathways for sustaining gains.

flowchart graphic on Climate-informed strategies for epidemic readiness _from signals to systems, Resolve to Save Lives

From signals to systems: Strengthening epidemic readiness through climate-informed strategies

Strengthening epidemic readiness by integrating climate data into health systems.
by Resolve to Save Lives
SITAware-222x300

Development and Implementation of a Public Health Event Management System, Nigeria, 2018–2024

We explore how the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC)’s event management system, SITAware, supported the agency with the management of 300 incidents in 2022.
by Emerging Infectious Diseases

Latest epidemic intelligence news

Testing for Covid-19 in Nigeria © Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images

“Surveillance is a public health superpower”

September 13, 2024
In an essay for the Financial Times, Dr. Tom Frieden explains how disease surveillance helps us foretell health disasters and see trends in diseases and health programs to save lives.…
Participants at a training for traditional healers in Kenema, Sierra Leone, in April 2024.

How “event-based surveillance” is saving lives Sierra Leone

August 26, 2024

Resolve to Save Lives partnered with the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and global partners to support event-based surveillance for the earliest signs of an outbreak. By focusing on advanced…

Enhanced situational awareness allows

In light of climate change, we need proactive approaches to minimize outbreaks

January 5, 2024
In Think Global Health, Amanda McClelland says early-warning approaches can help minimize the spread of infectious disease outbreaks.…