The Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) has announced that the country responded fast to the recent outbreak of measles in Jubbaland state.
In June 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) received reports indicating that the country was susceptible to a possible outbreak of the deadly disease.
Recently, the country was able to predict the outbreak with a high degree of accuracy courtesy of the new Early Warning and Alert Network (EWARN) system.
The reports from both WHO and EWARN indicated that measles was most likely to break out at a Jubbaland camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs).
WHO and EWARN shared the information with the Ministry of Health officials, who were then quickly dispatched to the area to contain the outbreak.
Initial investigation by EWARN revealed that the disease’s symptoms had been noted in 11 young children who all had rashes and high-grade fever.
The WHO also dispatched its team to the area between July 18 and 25.
Although it is still in its infancy, EWARN has already proved highly effective at providing health officers with the data required to act swiftly.