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The National Public Health Agency (NPHA), in partnership with international humanitarian organisation GOAL, has launched a joint initiative to modernise Sierra Leone’s epidemic response systems through digital contact tracing.
The initiative was launched during a high-level technical workshop held on Thursday, September 3, 2026, at the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) on Wilkinson Road in Freetown.
The workshop brought together health officials, technical experts and partner organisations to assess the country’s existing contact tracing capabilities, identify systemic gaps and develop a roadmap for digital transformation ahead of potential future public health emergencies.
Discussions focused on Sierra Leone’s existing digital infrastructure and how modern digital tools, including the COMMTACT toolkit, could be adapted to the country’s operational environment. Participants also examined technical architecture, data governance and protection, system interoperability, workforce readiness and institutional capacity.
Contact tracing remains an important component of disease control, enabling health workers to identify and monitor people who may have been exposed to infectious diseases and take timely action to prevent further transmission.
The transition from manual contact tracing systems to an integrated digital model is expected to improve data collection, streamline communication and reduce response times during public health emergencies.
Experts at the workshop also emphasised the importance of community trust and acceptance in ensuring the success of technology-driven health initiatives. They noted that community engagement must go hand in hand with the deployment of digital systems.
For NPHA, the initiative represents a move toward strengthening proactive disease detection and containment rather than relying primarily on reactive outbreak responses.
The agency expressed appreciation to GOAL for its longstanding presence and continued technical support in Sierra Leone, while urging participating institutions to maintain momentum as efforts move from strategy development to practical field readiness.
