Strengthening Digital Contact Tracing Ahead of Future Outbreaks
Sierra Leone is taking steps to strengthen its preparedness for future public health emergencies by exploring how digital technology can improve contact tracing.
The National Public Health Agency (NPHA), in collaboration with GOAL, held a technical workshop on Thursday, September 3, 2026, at the Emergency Operations Centre on Wilkinson Road in Freetown, bringing together NPHA leadership and technical teams, GOAL representatives and other stakeholders to review existing contact tracing systems, identify preparedness gaps and agree on priority areas for action.
Participants discussed digital infrastructure, data governance and protection, interoperability, community trust and acceptance, workforce capacity, institutional readiness and technical architecture.
The meeting also provided an opportunity to examine the COMMTAct toolkit and consider how appropriate digital solutions could be adapted to support a national contact tracing model suited to Sierra Leone’s context.
Among the key actions identified are further technical assessments, the development of a National Action Plan for Digital Contact Tracing Preparedness and the need to strengthen data governance, assess community readiness, build workforce capacity, mobilise resources and establish mechanisms to monitor implementation.
For NPHA, the initiative goes beyond adopting technology, with the broader aim of strengthening national preparedness to detect public health threats earlier, trace contacts more efficiently and interrupt transmission more quickly when outbreaks occur.
NPHA expressed appreciation to GOAL and other participating institutions for their continued support and technical contributions towards strengthening the country’s health security.
The focus will now shift from assessment to action, with identified priorities expected to be translated into concrete measures to improve Sierra Leone’s preparedness and ability to anticipate, detect and contain future public health threats.
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