Mozambique: FAO Launches EMA-I to Improve Surveillance in Animal & Zoonotic Diseases

For the first time in Mozambique, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has made the Event Mobile Application (EMA-i), an Android app for real-time data collection and disease reporting, available to veterinary field officers to strengthen their surveillance and early warning capabilities for the reporting of animal & zoonotic diseases.

The Event Mobile Application (EMA-i) is an Android application that provides disease notification, real-time data collection, and early warning systems, sending out immediate alerts when an outbreak occurs. EMA-i was first tested in Uganda in 2013 as part of a One Health Project funded by the Irish government.

The EMA-i graphs & maps component, which allows users to display epidemiological data of a disease occurrence from the field using the EMA-i mobile application on their smartphones, also gives users access to the reports generated after the information from the field has been submitted.

In order to achieve this goal, the FAO's Emergency Center for Transboundary Diseases (ECTAD) organized a workshop for the training of trainers that included 26 field veterinarians, epidemiologists, and representatives from private veterinary practices from the provinces of Maputo, Gaza, and Inhambane.

"Using smartphones, georeferenced data on animal diseases is collected from the field and entered into the EMA-i app. This generates a report that is sent in real-time to FAO's Global Animal Disease Information System (EMPRES-i) database, where the information is safely stored and used by policymakers for prompt response toward prevention and spread of the reported event, for animal disease mobile reporting," explained Hernani Coelho da Silva, FAO representative in Mozambique (represented by Timothy Woma, Head of the ECTAD country team), while flagging off the workshop.

Using the app will significantly increase the number of reports received from field vets. It will also improve the interconnection of epidemiological information sharing among neighbouring provinces, districts, and the federal government.

After completing the course, the 26 participants will be able to explain the national implementation strategy for EMA-i/EMPRES-I, discuss the benefits of using EMA-i, effectively use the EMA-i app for disease reporting, and explain the reporting workflow.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded this training, which was coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture. EMA-i will be cascaded in other provinces in 2023 to create a community of practice comprised of animal health experts and other interested parties who use EMA-i for real-time disease reporting.