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

Emerg Infect Dis. 2025 Jan;31(1):4-13. doi: 10.3201/eid3101.240379.

Abstract

Event management systems (EMS) are key tools for epidemic intelligence, integrating surveillance signals and incident response, although international standards to inform development are lacking. We describe the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) SITAware, a software capable of operating with low internet bandwidth to generate notifications, reports, and spatiotemporal dashboards and provide event-level data for real-time accountability and postevent learning. SITAware was enabled by local institutional ownership, co-created at low cost, and integrated into existing workflows. In 2022, SITAware was used to manage ≈300 incidents, and NCDC implemented it subnationally. NCDC's experience may inform EMS development and implementation in similar settings.

Keywords: Event management systems; Nigeria; One Health; epidemiology; surveillance.

MeSH terms

  • Disease Outbreaks / prevention & control
  • Humans
  • Nigeria / epidemiology
  • Population Surveillance
  • Public Health Surveillance
  • Public Health*
  • Software