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PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS

What innovative approaches are available for using data to predict factors influencing outbreaks, such as mosquito infestations, patterns of human habitation and movement, climate & environmental factors, and rates and other forms of transmission?

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FOCUS

Outbreaks are mostly unpredictable and therefore harder to prevent.

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

The problems have been fleshed out into a briefing designed to describe the root causes of the problem, current approaches in different countries, and lessons learned from other domains.

Read the Problem Description

RECOMMENDATIONS

Build predictive analytics data platform

Improve Zika response by building a predictive analytics platform

Timeframe
Resources: Moderate Investment ($100k-$500k)
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Resource Offset: Analytics platforms are designed to reduce medium to long term costs, as the data they generate can help optimize resource deployment (e.g., preemptively sending health workers to where an outbreak is likely to occur can avoid the costs associated with an outbreak)

Contacts

Lakshminarayanan Subramanian, Professor, Courant Institute, NYU

Launch prized-backed data science challenges

Use prize-backed challenges to rapidly develop predictive models and leverage outside expertise

Timeframe
Resources: Some Investment ($10k-$100k)
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Resource Offset: Prizes can be donated, and the challenge should be formulated to produce results that decrease costs. Challenges can also work with small prizes (or no prizes), provided the work is compelling enough and there is sufficient non-financial recognition of participants’ contributions

Contacts

Michael Johansson, Biologist, CDC

Train public health officials in data science

Increase data analytics literacy among public health officials by training them in data science (through partnerships with research institutions, universities, and other training providers)

Timeframe
Resources: Moderate Investment ($100k-$500k)
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Resource Offset: More data science training can enable these officials to analyze their own agencies’ work and identify cost savings

Contacts

Jesse Bell, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies, Gianluca Fontana, Centre for Health Policy, Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College, Daniel Ray, Chief Data Scientist, UK National Health Service, Michael Johansson, Biologist, CDC

Launch regional open data portal

Collaborate on creation of a Zika-related data portal that compiles national and other open datasets

Timeframe
Resources: Some Investment ($10k-$100k)
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Resource Offset: Money can be saved by using existing open source platforms and prioritizing datasets designed to generate insights that reduce costs

Contacts

Anita McGahan, University of Toronto