Resources Repository
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Tools/ModelsPublication, Teaching Resource 2017Publicly Available Software Tools for Decision-Makers During an Emergent Epidemic
Epidemics and emerging infectious diseases are becoming an increasing threat to global populations-challenging public health …
Epidemics and emerging infectious diseases are becoming an increasing threat to global populations-challenging public health practitioners, decision makers and researchers to plan, prepare, identify and respond to outbreaks in near real-timeframes. The aim of this research is to evaluate the range of public domain and freely available software epidemic modelling tools. Twenty freely utilizable software tools underwent assessment of software usability, utility and key functionalities. Stochastic and agent based tools were found to be highly…
Dynamic Transmission | Infectious Diseases | Mathematical Models | Dynamic Simulation | Health Systems | Climate/Environment | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Quantitative Literacy -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2017Bayesian Methods for Calibrating Health Policy Models: A Tutorial
This article provides a tutorial on Bayesian approaches for model calibration. It describes the theoretical …
This article provides a tutorial on Bayesian approaches for model calibration. It describes the theoretical basis for Bayesian calibration approaches as well as pragmatic considerations that arise in the tasks of creating calibration targets, estimating the posterior distribution, and obtaining results to inform the policy decision. These considerations, as well as the specific steps for implementing the calibration, are described in the context of an extended worked example about the policy choice to provide (or…
Calibration/Validation | Infectious Diseases | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2017Using Data-Driven Agent-Based Models to Forecast Emerging Infectious Diseases
This paper describes an agent-based model framework developed to forecast the 2014-15 Ebola epidemic, which …
This paper describes an agent-based model framework developed to forecast the 2014-15 Ebola epidemic, which was subsequently used in the Ebola forecasting challenge. Producing timely and reliable forecasts for an epidemic of an emerging infectious disease is a challenge. Epidemiologists and policy makers have to deal with poor data quality, limited understanding of the disease dynamics, a rapidly changing social environment and the uncertainty around the effects of various interventions in place. In this setting,…
Calibration/Validation | Infectious Diseases | Microsimulation | Dynamic Simulation | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa -
ArticlePublication 2016Identifying Cost-Effective Dynamic Policies to Control Epidemics
This paper describes a mathematical decision model for identifying dynamic health policies for controlling epidemics. …
This paper describes a mathematical decision model for identifying dynamic health policies for controlling epidemics. The dynamic policies aim to select the best current intervention based on accumulating epidemic data and the availability of resources at each decision point. An algorithm is proposed to approximate dynamic policies that optimize the population's net health benefit, a performance measure which accounts for both health and monetary outcomes. The authors further illustrate how dynamic policies can be defined and…
Dynamic Transmission | Infectious Diseases | Mathematical Models | Dynamic Simulation | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health/Medicine -
GuidelinesPublication 2016Methods for Health Economic Evaluation of Vaccines
This article describes the development of a consensus for health economic evaluations of vaccines to …
This article describes the development of a consensus for health economic evaluations of vaccines to support the development of national guidelines in Europe. While guidelines advocating more standardization of health economic evaluations exist, this article aims to address several immunization-specific aspects (e.g. indirect effects or discounting approach) which are still a subject of debate. The systematic literature review search was informed by expert opinion. 2,838 articles were returned from the search and 26 were finally…
Dynamic Transmission | Infectious Diseases | Costing Methods | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health Systems | Health/Medicine | Europe -
ReviewPublication 2016Dynamic Transmission Economic Evaluation of Infectious Disease in LMIC
Economic evaluation using dynamic transmission models is important for capturing the indirect effects of infectious …
Economic evaluation using dynamic transmission models is important for capturing the indirect effects of infectious disease interventions. The authors examine the use of these methods in low- and middle-income countries, where infectious diseases constitute a major burden. The review is comprised of two parts: (1) a summary of dynamic transmission economic evaluations across all disease areas published between 2011 and mid-2014 and (2) an in-depth review of mosquito-borne disease studies focusing on health economic methods…
Dynamic Transmission | Infectious Diseases | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa | Middle East & North Africa | Latin America & Caribbean | Asia & Pacific -
ReviewPublication 2016Decision Support for Infectious Disease Control
This report from RAND reviews decision-support tools, including models and nonmodeling approaches, that are relevant to …
This report from RAND reviews decision-support tools, including models and nonmodeling approaches, that are relevant to infectious disease prevention, detection, and response and aligns these tools with real-world policy questions that the tools can help address. This overview is designed to help modelers and other technical experts understand the questions that policymakers will raise and the decisions they must make. The report also presents policymakers with the capabilities and limitations of the different tools that may…
Dynamic Transmission | Infectious Diseases | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Microsimulation | Dynamic Simulation | Global Governance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Global -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2015Calibration of Complex Models through Bayesian Evidence Synthesis: A Tutorial
This tutorial demonstrates how to implement a Bayesian synthesis of diverse sources of evidence to …
This tutorial demonstrates how to implement a Bayesian synthesis of diverse sources of evidence to calibrate the parameters of a complex model. To illustrate these methods, the authors demonstrate how a previously developed Markov model for the progression of human papillomavirus (HPV-16) infection was rebuilt in a Bayesian framework. Transition probabilities between states of disease severity are inferred indirectly from cross-sectional observations of prevalence of HPV-16 and HPV-16–related disease by age, cervical cancer incidence, and…
Calibration/Validation | Infectious Diseases -
ArticlePublication 2015Controlling Measles Using Supplemental Immunization: A Mathematical Model
The Measles & Rubella Initiative, a broad consortium of global health agencies, has provided support …
The Measles & Rubella Initiative, a broad consortium of global health agencies, has provided support to measles-burdened countries, focusing on sustaining high coverage of routine immunization of children and supplementing it with a second dose opportunity for measles vaccine through supplemental immunization activities (SIAs). Authors estimate optimal scheduling of SIAs in countries with the highest measles burden using an age-stratified dynamic compartmental model of measles transmission. They explore the frequency of SIAs in order to achieve…
Dynamic Transmission | Infectious Diseases | Health Outcomes | Health Systems | Health/Medicine | Asia & Pacific