Event highlights
From 6–10 October 2025, Armenia took a major step forward in strengthening its preparedness to detect and respond to public health threats with the completion of a national assessment of its all-hazard Early Warning, Alert and Response (EWAR) system.
The assessment was conducted by WHO in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), with financial support from the EU4Health programme under the “Serious Cross-Border Threats to Health initiative”. It marked a key milestone in Armenia’s ongoing efforts to enhance its health security and ensure compliance with the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR).
Strengthening early detection and rapid response
EWAR systems are critical for national health security. When functioning effectively, they allow countries to detect early signals of potential outbreaks or hazards, verify and assess risks and initiate timely public health actions – before localized events escalate into national or cross-border emergencies. Robust EWARS play a pivotal role in strengthening collaborative surveillance, fostering timely information sharing and coordinated action across sectors and borders to detect and respond effectively to emerging health threats.
Over the 5-day mission, technical experts from WHO/Europe, the WHO Health Emergencies (WHE) Hub for the South Caucasus and WHO Country Office in Armenia worked closely with national counterparts to assess the country’s capacity for early detection, verification and response across all hazards.
The mission brought together representatives from key national institutions, including the NCDC, Ministry of Economy, Food Safety Inspection Body, Hydromet Center of the Ministry of Environment and Rescue Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The team also visited regional health facilities and NCDC branches to gain a comprehensive understanding of how Armenia’s surveillance and response systems operate at both national and subnational levels.
Building on progress and identifying priorities
The assessment provided an in-depth review of Armenia’s EWAR components – detection, alert and response – and examined how existing surveillance systems and digital tools are used to identify and verify signals of public health concern. It also explored coordination mechanisms among human, animal, food safety, environmental and emergency management sectors.
Preliminary findings highlighted several strengths, including Armenia’s well-established legal and institutional frameworks for surveillance, robust indicator-based surveillance systems and effective coordination among key health and emergency management bodies. However, the assessment also identified areas for further improvement, such as enhancing multisectoral all-hazard coordination, information sharing and decision-making, strengthening event-based surveillance, incorporating a risk-based approach to outbreak investigation and improving the operationalization of joint rapid risk assessments.
Next steps toward a stronger, integrated EWAR system
The mission concluded with a multisectoral Final Results and Action Planning Workshop, where multisectoral stakeholders reviewed the findings and agreed on priority actions. Among these were the development of a comprehensive, multisectoral national EWAR strategy; strengthened coordination with environmental and veterinary sectors; improved community-based surveillance; and greater interoperability across digital surveillance systems.
“Armenia is committed to building a resilient health system that can detect and respond to threats before they become crises. This assessment represents a significant milestone for Armenia’s public health system. Strengthening early warning and response capacities is critical to our ability to detect, verify and respond rapidly to emerging health threats. The findings and recommendations from this mission will guide us in further aligning our national systems with the International Health Regulations and ensure Armenia is better prepared to protect the health of its people,” said Stepan Atoyan, Director General of the NCDC.
With continued support from WHO and international partners, Armenia is now moving into the next phase – finalizing the national report, operationalizing recommendations and advancing toward a more integrated, resilient and community-informed early warning system capable of safeguarding public health and national stability in the years to come.
“The Early Warning, Alert and Response system assessment was an excellent example of collaboration between national authorities, WHO and partners. It provided an opportunity to take a comprehensive look at our existing systems, identify strengths and areas for improvement and plan concrete actions to strengthen Armenia’s health security. We are grateful for WHO’s continued technical support and commitment,” emphasized Nune Bakunts, National IHR Focal Point and Deputy Director General of the NCDC.
Importantly, with Armenia joining Azerbaijan and Georgia in completing national EWAR assessments, all 3 countries of the South Caucasus subregion have now undertaken this critical process – marking a significant step forward for regional health security and advancing collaborative surveillance principles in the WHO European Region.
Event notice
Mission objectives
WHO/Europe is supporting Armenia to strengthen its all-hazard Early Warning, Alert and Response (EWAR) system by reviewing national capacities for: early detection of health threats (including infectious diseases, foodborne threats and environmental hazards); verification of signals and risk assessment; and timely rapid response.
Expected outcomes
Expected outcomes include:
- EWAR assessment report of key findings
- short publication on the event for the WHO/Europe website.