During its participation at GITEX Global 2024, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) launched the “Enthar” early warning system for the detection of infectious diseases, utilising advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The initiative aims to strengthen the emirate’s epidemic prevention framework and ensure the sustainability of public health security for the community.
The system is designed to support health monitoring teams, risk assessment units, and health inspectors stationed at sea and land borders. “Enthar” represents DHA’s ongoing efforts to monitor and proactively detect infectious diseases and potential epidemics, providing a thorough risk assessment of these threats to Dubai. Through AI-driven precise data analysis and comprehensive health risk evaluations on a global scale, the system significantly enhances DHA’s ability to stay ahead of public health challenges.
Enhancing Epidemic Surveillance Systems
Dr. Ramadan Ibrahim Al Blooshi, Advisor to the Director-General of DHA and Director of Public Health Protection, highlighted the importance of this system as a strategic move to reinforce health security in Dubai. He emphasised DHA’s commitment to integrating and employing cutting-edge global technologies to combat health threats, enhance epidemic surveillance systems, and optimise the use of critical information. This enables swift decision-making and effective preventive measures in response to health emergencies.
System Features
Dr. Al Blooshi also outlined the system’s advanced capabilities, including its exceptional proficiency in analysing multilingual and open-source data, such as public health information, official and scientific records, and global epidemic monitoring. “Enthar” provides real-time alerts on infectious diseases, monitors media articles and health risks, and delivers regular reports compiled by epidemiologists worldwide. These features collectively bolster the efficiency of crisis response mechanisms during health emergencies.
Advanced Technologies
Dr. Khaled Lootah, Consultant in DHA’s Public Health Protection department, stated that the “Enthar” early warning system incorporates sophisticated risk analysis tools that enable the proactive monitoring of health threats. These tools assess disease characteristics, historical activity, expected seasonal burdens, media-based surveillance, and both historical and predicted air travel data. Environmental factors and other risk variables are also factored into the analysis.
The AI-powered system excels at processing vast volumes of information, continuously monitoring and analysing this data through direct access to application programming interfaces (APIs). Additionally, “Enthar” features advanced functionalities, such as query capabilities (Beta), CSV data export, and multilingual, multi-source data analysis, which contribute to the delivery of highly accurate and reliable periodic reports.
