Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2021Rational Policymaking during a Pandemic
Policymaking during a pandemic can be extremely challenging. As COVID-19 is a new disease and …
Policymaking during a pandemic can be extremely challenging. As COVID-19 is a new disease and its global impacts are unprecedented, decisions are taken in a highly uncertain, complex, and rapidly changing environment. In such a context, in which human lives and the economy are at stake, the authors argue that using ideas and constructs from modern decision theory, even informally, will make policymaking a more responsible and transparent process.
Priority Setting/Ethics | Decision Theory | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Global -
ArticlePublication 2018Equity Impact Vaccines May Have on Averting Deaths and Medical Impoverishment
In this analysis, authors estimated the number of deaths averted and the number of cases …
In this analysis, authors estimated the number of deaths averted and the number of cases of medical impoverishment averted of ten antigens and their corresponding vaccines across income quintiles for forty-one low- and middle-income countries. The study found that vaccines administered between 2016 and 2030 would prevent 36 million deaths. Vaccines will have the greatest impact on reducing cases of poverty caused by hepatitis B, helping an estimated 14 million people avoid medical impoverishment. An…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Mathematical Models | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Child/Nutrition | Global Governance | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa | Middle East & North Africa | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2022Estimated Transmission Outcomes and Costs of SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostic Testing, Screening, and Surveillance Strategies Among a Simulated Population of Primary School Students
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic's significant educational disruptions, the U.S. government allocated $10 …
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic's significant educational disruptions, the U.S. government allocated $10 billion in March 2021 for testing in schools. The study aimed to analyze the costs and benefits of different COVID-19 testing strategies, particularly focusing on full-time, in-person elementary and middle school education. Utilizing an updated agent-based network model, the study simulated transmission scenarios in schools, considering various testing strategies ranging from diagnostic testing (test-to-stay) to reduce symptom-based isolations, routine screening…
Mathematical Models | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Test Performance | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine | North America -
ArticlePublication 2017When Cost-Effective Interventions Are Unaffordable
Many health interventions deemed cost-effective are not affordable. Despite the importance of affordability to policymakers, …
Many health interventions deemed cost-effective are not affordable. Despite the importance of affordability to policymakers, little of the cost-effectiveness literature in global health addresses this issue. Budget impact analysis (BIA) describes an intervention's short-term costs and savings from the payer's perspective. This paper assesses the current use of budget impact analysis (BIA) and cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) in health economic assessments conducted for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The authors recommend steps researchers and policymakers can…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Costing Methods | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Global -
ArticlePublication 2016Rotavirus Vaccines Contribute Towards UHC in A Mixed Public–Private Healthcare System
This extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) evaluates the non-health benefits of rotavirus vaccination in Malaysia from …
This extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) evaluates the non-health benefits of rotavirus vaccination in Malaysia from the household’s perspective. The authors found that rotavirus vaccination reduces rotavirus episodes and expenditure substantially and provides financial risk protection to all income groups. Although the rich are paying more out of pocket than the poor by utilizing more expensive healthcare, the poor are paying more in proportion to household income. Poverty reduction benefits are concentrated amongst the poorest two…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Costing Methods | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Child/Nutrition | Social Determinants | Health Systems | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | 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…
Mathematical Models | Military/Defense | Infectious Diseases | State-Transition | Dynamic Transmission | Microsimulation | Dynamic Simulation | Global Governance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Global -
ArticlePublication 2014Indemics: Interactive Computing Framework for Data Intensive Epidemic Modeling
The design and prototype implementation of Indemics (Interactive EpidemicSimulation) is described, a modeling environment utilizing …
The design and prototype implementation of Indemics (Interactive EpidemicSimulation) is described, a modeling environment utilizing high-performance computing technologies for supporting complex epidemic simulations. Indemics can support policy analysts and epidemiologists interested in planning and control of pandemics. Indemics goes beyond traditional epidemic simulations by providing a way to represent and analyze policy-based as well as individual-based adaptive interventions. Users can also stop the simulation at any point, assess the state of the simulated system, and…
Mathematical Models | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Dynamic Transmission | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2013Estimated Mortality Impact of Vaccinations 2011–2020 in 73 GAVI Alliance Countries
From August to December 2011, a multidisciplinary group with expertise in mathematical modeling was constituted …
From August to December 2011, a multidisciplinary group with expertise in mathematical modeling was constituted by the GAVI Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to estimate the impact of vaccination in 73 countries supported by the GAVI Alliance. The number of deaths averted in persons projected to be vaccinated during 2011–2020 was estimated for ten antigens: hepatitis B, yellow fever, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), Streptococcus pneumoniae, rotavirus, Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A, Japanese…
Mathematical Models | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Health Outcomes | State-Transition | Dynamic Transmission | Microsimulation | Global Governance | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa | Middle East & North Africa | Latin America & Caribbean | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2011Dynamic Policies for Controlling Spread of Emerging Infections
This paper illustrates the design and implementation of a dynamic health policy for the control …
This paper illustrates the design and implementation of a dynamic health policy for the control of a novel strain of influenza, where two types of interventions are assumed to be available during the epidemic: (1) vaccines and antiviral drugs, and (2) transmission reducing measures, such as social distancing or mask use, that may be turned "on" or "off" repeatedly during the course of epidemic. A modeling approach is described for developing dynamic health policies that allow…
Mathematical Models | Science/Technology | Infectious Diseases | Dynamic Transmission | Dynamic Simulation | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Health/Medicine | Global