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Cross-sectoral partnership in leveraging the SORMAS digital system for advancing malaria surveillance in Ethiopia

Award Number: R21TW012954
ORGANIZATION: FOGARTY INTERNATIONAL CENTER
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2028

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Cross-sectoral partnership in leveraging the SORMAS digital system for advancing malaria surveillance in Ethiopia - Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases challenge public health systems worldwide, including the U.S., highlighting the need for surveillance systems that support timely outbreak detection and response. Malaria remains a major global infectious disease, causing 263 million cases and 597,000 deaths in 2023, with >94% occurring in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Although malaria is not endemic in the U.S., imported infections continue to affect American travelers, military personnel, humanitarian workers, immigrants, and refugees. Developing digital surveillance in malaria-endemic settings provides knowledge and tools applicable to strengthening infectious disease preparedness and protecting American health. Many endemic countries still rely on paper-based surveillance, resulting in delayed reporting and incomplete data. We propose to develop and evaluate a case-based malaria surveillance module and analytical Shiny application integrated within the Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS) for improving malaria surveillance. Our long-term goal is to establish a digital surveillance framework and implementation strategies applicable to malaria and other infectious diseases. Our central hypothesis is that integrating a malaria-specific surveillance module and analytical tools into SORMAS will improve the completeness, timeliness, quality, and utility of surveillance data compared with paper-based systems, enabling faster public health action and improved outbreak preparedness. Standardized, real-time case-level surveillance data will improve detection of malaria transmission, support targeted control measures, and generate scalable approaches adaptable to other infectious diseases. The proposed research requires implementation in Ethiopia because its malariaendemic setting and surveillance infrastructure are unavailable in the U.S. Collaboration with the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (Germany) provides unique expertise in SORMAS architecture and interoperability essential to the proposed work. During the R21 phase, we will develop and integrate a casebased malaria surveillance module (Aim 1) and Shiny application (Aim 2) within SORMAS and evaluate their functionality for real-time case reporting, data management, visualization, and surveillance analytics. During the R33 phase, we will implement the enhanced system in community health workflows at 30 Ethiopian health posts (Aim 3) and evaluate its effectiveness in improving the timeliness, completeness, and accuracy of malaria surveillance data while identifying implementation barriers and facilitators (Aim 4). This project is innovative because it extends the established SORMAS platform into the first integrated malaria surveillance system with real-time analytics and decision support. It will generate interoperable digital tools and implementation strategies adaptable to malaria and other infectious diseases. By combining Ethiopia's malaria surveillance setting with Germany's SORMAS expertise, the project will generate knowledge applicable to strengthening infectious disease surveillance and outbreak preparedness to protect the health of Americans.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $189,655 )
2026	2026	BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	4215 EMILE ST	OMAHA	NE	68105	DOUGLAS	USA	International Research and Research Training	001	1	9/17/2026	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$9,056
2026	2026	BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	4215 EMILE ST	OMAHA	NE	68105	DOUGLAS	USA	International Research and Research Training	002	1	9/17/2026	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$39,455
2026	2026	BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA	4215 EMILE ST	OMAHA	NE	68105	DOUGLAS	USA	International Research and Research Training	000	1	9/8/2026	NEW	$141,144
														Subtotal = $189,655

Grand Total All Awards = $189,655

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Cross-sectoral partnership in leveraging the SORMAS digital system for advancing malaria surveillance in Ethiopia

Award Number: R21TW012954

ORGANIZATION: FOGARTY INTERNATIONAL CENTER

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2028

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