The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) in Dubai has launched SPHERE, an E-public health system to strengthen early surveillance of future pandemics.
The innovative system will ensure epidemiological surveillance and management that can be used or linked at the state level. Through this platform, the ministry aims to provide an integrated system for early monitoring, follow-up, and management of events affecting public health and strengthen linkage with the government and private health sectors, reports WAM, the Emirate’s official news agency.
The new e-platform integrated with the latest technologies was launched during MoHAP’s participation in Arab Health 2022, which was held between 24th to 27th January in Dubai.
A Unified National Database
SPHERE enhances disease prevention, by sharing and exchanging information locally, regionally and globally, so as to reinforce the UAE’s status in health competitive indicators.
The e-platform is designed to play a key role in disease surveillance to achieve a rapid response for combating communicable diseases. In addition to monitoring data and information to evaluate the burden of health risks, prioritize public health actions, and monitor the impact of control measures, the new system supports research that helps determine the bases and standards for the development of public health policies and strategies.
“While pandemics are moving and spreading quickly like what we’ve seen with COVID-19, data can move even faster, providing us tools to manage community response during epidemics,” said Abdullah Ahli, Acting Assistant Under-Secretary for the Support Services Sector.
He underlined that the UAE has a robust epidemiological investigation system, immediate response, and control measures, and high laboratory capabilities, helping maintain health security in the country, highlighting the UAE’s success in dealing effectively and practically with the pandemic, thanks to the support and guidance provided by the UAE government, according to high-level standards praised by the World Health Organisation.
The platform also includes the reporting of communicable diseases, pathological syndromes, chemical poisoning cases, injuries, and vaccination records.
“SPHERE has a lot of features, such as epidemiological analysis, identifying patterns and seasons of diseases, calculating relevant indicators and using them to make decisions based on evidence, and creating epidemiological maps to address potential threats in the future,” added Al Ajmi.
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