WHO's reply to 'Cholera in the time of War: implications of weak surveillance in Syria for the WHO's preparedness-a comparison of two monitoring systems.

Dear Editor,Early detection of outbreaks is a major challenge in most countries, and more specifically when they endure a conflict. In the protracted Syrian crisis, WHO is currently supporting two surveillance systems1 which were recently subject to an evaluation by Sparrow et al .2The early warning and response system (EWARS), established in September 2012 by the Ministry of Health and based in Damascus, covers mainly government-controlled areas of the country. The early warning and response network (EWARN), set up in June 2013 by the Syrian National Coalition, is headquartered in Gaziantep, Turkey, and covers mainly opposition-controlled areas. These two early warning mechanisms are currently supporting Syriau0027s routine public health surveillance system.During its short lifetime, EWARS has expanded to cover more …