Asunción, August 26, 2025 – Public health in Paraguay has advanced in strengthening community-based event surveillance with the technical support from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The professionals were in the country during a technical mission carried out from August 18 to 22, 2025, working under the leadership of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare (MSPBS) through the PROTECT project, funded by the Pandemic Fund and implemented by PAHO and the World Bank.
PROTECT seeks to strengthen the capacity, preparedness, and commitment of Paraguay and six other countries in the Americas (Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Uruguay) for early detection and response to future pandemics.
During the mission, specialized professionals from the Health Information and Risk Assessment Unit (HIM) of the Health Emergencies Department (PHE) facilitated the strengthening of the use of the tool designed for community-based signal detection, improving the efficiency of the notification process as well as triage, verification, and risk assessment flows. These improvements complement and optimize the work already being carried out by the national team, enabling clearer and more timely management of notifications.
During the mission, the use of the tool for capturing signals from the community was strengthened, improving the efficiency of the notification process as well as the flows for triage, verification, and risk assessment. These improvements complement and optimize the work already being carried out by the national team, facilitating clearer and timelier management of notifications.
Paraguay also enhanced its use of Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources (EIOS) through automated machine learning models, strengthening the early detection of potential outbreaks, epidemics, and public health emergencies.
Among the main achievements were:
The development of a new web application for tracking signals of potential outbreaks, epidemics, or public health emergencies, integrated with national information systems, which will improve screening, verification, and risk assessment.
The completion of the extract, transform, and load (ETL) process, which now automates the structuring and validation of surveillance data, facilitating the work of Ministry of Health teams.
The development of interactive dashboards linked to official community-based surveillance databases, providing real-time support for decision-making.
The strengthening of machine learning models and the use of artificial intelligence to prioritize the detection of signals related to potential outbreaks, epidemics, or public health emergencies through the EIOS platform.
Looking ahead, Paraguay and PAHO agreed on a roadmap to ensure the sustainability of these advances and, at the same time, to support other countries in the Region in using these technologies for event surveillance, particularly community-based surveillance.
Collaboration for innovation in public health
These results reflect the value of technical collaboration as a platform for innovation in public health, where joint work translates into practical and sustainable solutions that strengthen surveillance and preparedness for public health emergencies in Paraguay and across the Region of the Americas.
