About the SORMAS Foundation

Empowering Global Health
Through Digital Innovation

The SORMAS Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to a world where every country is prepared to detect, contain, and respond to epidemics and pandemics through collaborative, open-source technology.

Founded in 2022 as a spin-off from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) with support from the Friends of the HZI e.V. we serve as the long-term custodians and catalysts for the Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS),
a digital platform used globally to manage infectious disease outbreaks.

Our Vision

A world in which all countries are prepared to respond to epidemics and pandemics digitally and collaboratively.

Our Mission

To build a strong community through the development, promotion, and implementation of open-source digital systems that support national and international organizations in the early detection and containment of threats to public health.

What We Do

The SORMAS Foundation operates at the intersection of public health and digital technology. Our work is structured around four pillars:

Software Curation

We ensure that SORMAS remains a Digital Global Good. This includes maintaining the software’s epidemiological, technical, and data protection standards (GDPR) while defining a roadmap that reflects the real-world needs of the global health community.

Training & Certification

Through the SORMAS Academy, we build local capacity by training users and trainers. We also offer a certification program for service providers to ensure high-quality technical support is available globally.

Community Building

We foster a global "Community of Practice" where users, developers, and researchers share knowledge. By avoiding vendor lock-in and promoting transparency, we empower countries to take full ownership of their health data and systems.

Implementation Support

We provide technical and strategic guidance to Ministries of Health and national health agencies. From initial needs assessment to country-wide deployment, we help ensure that SORMAS is tailored to local surveillance structures.

Our Roots: From Ebola to a Global Standard

SORMAS was born out of necessity. It was initially developed during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa through a partnership between Nigerian and German health experts.

Unlike simple data entry tools, SORMAS was designed as a business process management tool to coordinate real-time responses between health providers, laboratories, and surveillance officers. Since its inception, it has evolved into a comprehensive system covering over 40 notifiable diseases and has been deployed across Africa, Asia, and Europe—including national-level implementations in Nigeria, Ghana, Luxembourg and Nepal.

Why Open Source?

We believe that public health tools should be public goods. By utilizing the GNU General Public License 3.0, we ensure:

  • No Vendor Lock-in: Countries are not tied to a single IT provider.

  • Transparency: The source code is publicly available for audit and improvement.

  • Sovereignty: Countries retain 100% ownership of their data and its management.