Before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the open source system SORMAS was already in use in Nigeria and Ghana. Since then, it has been expanded to other countries in Europe, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. SORMAS is currently designed for more than 40 diseases. In Germany, a version of SORMAS adapted for the Public Health Service (ÖGD) is used for contact person management.
The SORMAS Foundation develops and implements digital systems for the early detection and containment of epidemics in local and international contexts. In this way, it aims to sustainably promote public health, especially in the area of prevention and control of communicable diseases. Dr Pilar Hernández and Jan Böhme have taken over the management of the non-profit foundation. Both previously worked as scientists in the Department of Epidemiology at the HZI.
Prof Gérard Krause has led SORMAS development at the HZI since 2014. “With the establishment of the SORMAS Foundation, we have created an organisational structure for sustainable implementation to meet the increasing international demand for SORMAS. The research and development work of the HZI and the implementation on the part of the SORMAS Foundation will complement each other perfectly,” says Krause.
Prof Dirk Heinz, Scientific Director of the HZI, adds: “SORMAS and the establishment of the SORMAS Foundation are significant successes of our translational research, which contribute to bringing infectious epidemics under control as quickly as possible.”
