Participants Collecting Data from the Field at the A. Khan Poultry Farm in Newton

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through its Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), in close partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS), concluded a training of livestock and wildlife officers on the new Event Mobile Application (EMA-i+) to strengthen the early warning system through early detection, data collection and real time reporting of zoonotic and transboundary animal diseases in Sierra Leone.

With funding support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), under its Global Health Security Programme (GHSP), the training was conducted from 18 to 22 November 2024 in Freetown and targeted 63 livestock and wildlife officers, as well as veterinary services officers from the national and district level. The participants were trained on the use of EMA-i+ to improve animal diseases data collection and real-time reporting in support of the national animal disease surveillance and early warning system and have acquired skills to be competent users of EMA-i+ application.

The EMA-i+ application enables frontline animal health and wildlife officers to collect and transmit real-time geo-referenced information on animal diseases from the field using smart phones and or tablets. Using this technology, the reports are sent in real time to the Global Animal Disease Information System (EMPRES-i), a database developed by FAO and customized for countries use where the information is safely stored and processed for country users. The reports sent from the field are also accessible through a mapping component of the EMA- app, which allows users to visualize the location of disease events including epidemiological details. The disease events reports are sent and shared in real-time with decisions makers. The EMA-i system, which was initially piloted in 16 districts in the country in 2022, will progressively be rolled out to all the 192 Chiefdoms in Sierra Leone.   

During the official opening of the training workshop, Dr. Theresa Teni Dick, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS), commended USAID and FAO for their ongoing significant support to the Livestock and Veterinary Services Sector. She stated that “good quality data and timely reporting are important in aiding decision making to prevent potential disease outbreaks” She applauded FAO support to launch the upgraded version of EMA-i+ in the country and donating 55 internet enabled android smart phones for reporting. She added “all these initiatives are aimed at improving livestock production which is a big boost to the realization of Feed Salone programme in the country”.

Dr. Rene Bessin, FAO ECTAD Country Team Leader, acknowledged that there is remarkable progress made by the country in disease surveillance and reporting as evidenced by the high scores in the recently concluded Joint External Evaluation (JEE) in 2023. He added that the use of EMA-i plus for real time reporting will greatly improve real time disease reporting in the animal and wildlife using a One Health Approach which will further improve the JEE Scores.

Mr. Osman B. Koroma Deputy Director, from the Environmental Protection Agency, said that the country has been facing serious challenges in establishing an environmental health surveillance system because of the lack of appropriate tools for data collection and reporting. He was optimistic that EMA-i+ application will not only boost livestock and wildlife surveillance but also environmental health.

EMA-I has been successfully implemented in 17 countries, including Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia, Mali, Malawi, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Iraq, Mozambique, Togo, and the Gambia. The application has helped to improve communication between stakeholders and build early warning and surveillance capacities.