National Consultancy: EWARS Development on DHIS2

National Consultancy: EWARS Development on DHIS2 – (2503280)

Contractual Arrangement: External consultant

Contract Duration (Years, Months, Days): 3

Job Posting

: Sep 1, 2025, 12:12:46 PM

Closing Date

: Sep 15, 2025, 9:59:00 PM

Primary Location

: Syrian Arab Republic-Damascus

Organization

: EM_SYR WHO Representative’s Office, Syrian Arab Republic

Schedule

: Full-time

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1. Background

The Early Warning Alert and Response System (EWARS) is a critical national tool for the timely detection and response to epidemic-prone diseases in Syria. Jointly developed by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2012, EWARS expanded to cover nearly 1,400 sentinel sites across all 14 governorates, including public health facilities (80% of MoH health centers), NGOs, and mobile clinics.

Currently, data is collected at the facility level using paper forms and transmitted electronically from the district level. Analysis and feedback are conducted at both the Directorate of Health and central MoH levels.

Following the 8 December 2024 political transition, there is a national priority to transition from fragmented, vertical disease surveillance systems to an Integrated Disease Surveillance (IDS) approach. This integration aims to unify EWARS and other vertical programme surveillance platforms into a single national system.

WHO recommends that the IDS approach, aligned with International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), be implemented using District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2) to ensure real-time, multi-disease, multi-sectoral surveillance that supports rapid detection, verification, and response.

This consultancy will provide the technical leadership and hands-on development required to integrate EWARS into DHIS2, ensuring it meets both national requirements and global health standards.

Similarly, the immunization program is currently in the phase of integration between SIG and the MoH, with efforts underway to merge their respective regarding the EPI Tracker program. This consultancy will also provide the technical leadership and hands-on configuration needed to finalize all required adjustments with close collaboration with the DHIS2 core team to align the module with MoH needs.

2. Objectives

The consultant will support MoH in the deployment of the EWARS and EPI Tracker module within DHIS2, ensuring sustainability, and capacity transfer to MoH technical teams.

3. Scope of Work

A. Technical Development

• Customize DHIS2 for EWARS, including:
  • EWARS weekly report form
  • EPI Tracker modification
  • Dashboards and analytics for EPI and EWARS
• Conduct system testing, troubleshooting, and validation.

B. Capacity Building

• Contribute in training MoH central and district surveillance teams in two governorates (Damascus and Aleppo) on EWARS–2 functionalities.
• Support in building the capacity of MoH core developers to ensure long-term sustainability.

C. Monitoring & Evaluation

• Support MoH to establish performance monitoring indicators for system use.
• Assess data quality, timeliness, and completeness post-deployment.

4. Deliverables

1. Functional EWARS–DHIS2 module with:
   • Real-time alert detection and notification system.
   • Customizable dashboards, reports, and visualizations.
2. Functional EPI Tracker–DHIS2 module with all the modification needed to align with MoH needs.
3. Technical documentation (system architecture, configurations, and admin manuals).
4. End-user training package (presentations, manuals, and exercises).
5. Progress reports (monthly) and final completion report.

6. Location

Field-based in Damascus with potential travel to Aleppo.

7. Level: NO-B

8. Reporting & Supervision

The consultant will report to the WHO Syria Health Information & Surveillance Lead and work in close collaboration with the MoH Surveillance Directorate and WHO EMRO DHIS2 technical experts.

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