The Ministry of Health of Bolivia, with the support of the SORMAS Foundation and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), has successfully begun the implementation of SORMAS pilot in the country. The pilot is part of the ‘Global Project on Pandemic Prevention and Response, One Health’ and aims at showing the added value of SORMAS in the strengthening of the surveillance and outbreak management system in Bolivia.

After developing a detailed implementation plan, a “Training of Trainers” (ToT) was carried out in La Paz from the 21st to the 23rd of May. This 3-days training was inaugurated by the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Max Francisco Enriquez Nova, and the GIZ Country Director for Bolivia, Barbara Schweiger, showing a strong commitment with the project.

More than 20 dedicated participants from the surveillance, statistics, and IT departments of the Ministry of Health received comprehensive training to become trainers to be able to start cascade trainings in the different departments of Bolivia. As a next step, a training of users will be carried out in the department of Tarija, in the south of the country, in the second week of June.

After the training of users, SORMAS will be deployed in selected health facilities during several weeks, after which, feedback will be collected from users and a report with the results of the pilot implementation will be prepared.

This progress highlights the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders and sets a promising precedent for the future of epidemic and pandemic management in Bolivia.