# From Signals to Action: Epidemiology in Sri Lanka

**URL:** <https://community.dhis2.org/t/from-signals-to-action-epidemiology-in-sri-lanka/72254>\
**Category:** Implementation - Implémentation\
**Tags:** climate, chap, dac2026\
**Created:** [7 May 2026 14:44 UTC](https://community.dhis2.org/t/from-signals-to-action-epidemiology-in-sri-lanka/72254 "2026-05-07T14:44:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mojithafernando](https://dhis2.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/community.dhis2.org/mojithafernando/32/48907_2.png) [@mojithafernando](https://community.dhis2.org/u/mojithafernando)\
**Post date:** [7 May 2026 14:44 UTC](https://community.dhis2.org/t/from-signals-to-action-epidemiology-in-sri-lanka/72254/1 "2026-05-07T14:44:34Z")

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_This community innovation has been accepted at the [2026 DHIS2 Annual Conference](https://dac2026.dhis2.org/) as a physical poster._  
  
  
 **From Signals to Action: Epidemiology in Sri Lanka**   
  
Communicable disease surveillance in Sri Lanka is supported by legally mandated notification, field investigation, and weekly reporting processes, alongside hospital-based morbidity and mortality reporting. Although these systems function well individually, they have historically operated in isolation, limiting supervisors’ ability to compare signals, detect inconsistencies, and respond promptly. Decision-making often relied on delayed reports rather than routinely available integrated evidence. This intervention enabled practical data triangulation for epidemiological decision-making by embedding multiple surveillance data streams within a single DHIS2-based analytics framework. Routine datasets for the Weekly Return of Communicable Diseases and MOH-level field investigation summaries were digitised and implemented in DHIS2, replacing a legacy proprietary reporting system. Daily hospital notifications on suspicion, including outcome information, and ICD-10–coded inpatient morbidity and mortality data were incorporated through automated data exchange processes. Supervisor-facing dashboards were designed to align with Sri Lanka’s public health administrative hierarchy, allowing indicators to be viewed consistently at national, provincial, district, and MOH levels with drill-down. The dashboards enable direct comparison of suspected cases, field-confirmed notifications, hospital admissions, and deaths across different reporting cadences. Leptospirosis was used as a tracer condition to demonstrate how discrepancies between hospital signals and routine surveillance data highlight under-notification, investigation delasys, and geographic inconsistencies. In practice, the dashboards supported timely identification of critical data gaps. In one instance, a communicable disease death recorded in inpatient morbidity data but missing from routine institutional reporting was detected through the national dashboard, prompting immediate regional follow-up, field verification, and escalation to the national focal point. This demonstrates how triangulated, multi-level DHIS2 dashboards strengthen accountability and support timely epidemiological action.  
  
 Primary Author: Mojitha Fernando  
  
  
 **Keywords:**   
Communicable disease surveillance, epidemiology, data triangulation, DHIS2, decision-making, public health supervision, notifiable diseases, hospital notifications, morbidity and mortality data, surveillance dashboards, health information systems, outbreak monitoring, Sri Lanka