Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2019Countering Misinformation with Lessons from Public Health
The internet is often praised as a tool for freedom of speech, democracy, and truth. …
The internet is often praised as a tool for freedom of speech, democracy, and truth. However, the internet increasingly has become polluted by misinformation – the inadvertent spread of misleading and false information – and disinformation – the deliberate and coordinated spread of misleading and false information. Individuals online knowingly and unknowingly spread dangerous rumors and propaganda at an alarming rate, which can mislead or manipulate the worldview of those who encounter it. False information…
Preferences/Values | Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Global | Infectious Diseases | Child/Nutrition | Social Determinants | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America -
EditorialPublication 2020Waiting for Certainty on COVID-19 Antibody Tests — At What Cost?
This perspective anticipates the availability of serologic antibody testing and considers its potential usefulness in mitigation …
This perspective anticipates the availability of serologic antibody testing and considers its potential usefulness in mitigation policy to reduce COVID-19 transmission. For example: Could we screen for serologic antibodies as a proxy for possible immunity and identify people who could return to the workplace with less severe mitigation measures? The authors acknowledge the uncertainties raised by many policy actors, including the WHO, such as, "Do antibodies confer immunity and, if so, for how long? How accurate is…
Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Government/Law | Global | Infectious Diseases | Technology Assessment | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | 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…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Costing Methods | Government/Law | Global | Infectious Diseases | Priority Setting/Ethics | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology -
ArticlePublication 2017Policy Makers, the International Community and the Population: Case Study on HIV/AIDS
A four-period game is developed between a policy maker, the international community, and the population. …
A four-period game is developed between a policy maker, the international community, and the population. This research supplements, through implementing strategic interaction, earlier research analyzing "one player at a time." The first two players distribute funds between preventing and treating diseases. The population reacts by degree of risky behavior which may cause no disease, disease contraction, recovery, sickness/death. More funds to prevention implies less disease contraction but higher death rate given disease contraction. The cost…
Decision Psychology | Government/Law | Global | Infectious Diseases | Priority Setting/Ethics | Mathematical Models | Health Systems | Global Governance | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine -
Lesson/ModuleWeb Portal, Teaching Resource 2017Translating Science Into Policy: The Role of Decision Science
This module introduces the basic techniques of “decision science” that are used in policy making. …
This module introduces the basic techniques of “decision science” that are used in policy making. The materials are mainly prescriptive, focusing on how to make good decisions, but also include examples of the systematic ways that people make poor decisions. The module: (1) surveys the meanings of utility; (2) examines decision making in conditions where risk is not an issue; (3) examines decision making in conditions where risk is an issue because the likelihood of…
Preferences/Values | Decision Psychology | Government/Law | Global | Infectious Diseases | Decision Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Decision Making/Leadership | Policy Translation -
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.
Decision Theory | Government/Law | Global | Infectious Diseases | Priority Setting/Ethics | Policy/Regulation | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology -
ArticlePublication 2020Valuing COVID-19 Mortality Risk
In this article, the author evaluates whether conventional estimates of the value per statistical life …
In this article, the author evaluates whether conventional estimates of the value per statistical life (VSL) in the United States (about $10 million) are appropriate for evaluating policies that affect risk of COVID-19. This estimate may be too large, because: (1) VSL estimates marginal values but COVID-19 risks can be non-marginal; (2) VSL is estimated for the average resident, but COVID-19 mortality is concentrated among the elderly; and (3) the pandemic has caused substantial losses…
Preferences/Values | Government/Law | Global | Infectious Diseases | Benefit-Cost Analysis -
ArticlePublication 1964Epidemics and Rumors
Goffman and Newill directed attention to the analogy between the spreading of an infectious disease …
Goffman and Newill directed attention to the analogy between the spreading of an infectious disease and the dissemination of information. This article examines the spreading of a rumor from the point of view of mathematical epidemiology and briefly reports on work to be published in detail elsewhere. Authors emphasize that a mathematical model for the spreading of rumors can be constructed in a number of different ways, depending on the mechanism postulated to describe the…
Preferences/Values | Culture/Society | Global | Infectious Diseases | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology -
ArticlePublication 2020COVID-19 Infodemic: A New Front for Information Professionals
COVID-19 emerged from Wuhan, China and has spread in 213 countries, areas, or territories around …
COVID-19 emerged from Wuhan, China and has spread in 213 countries, areas, or territories around the globe, with nearly 144,683 deaths worldwide as-of April 18, 2020. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed a massive infodemic with the public being bombarded with vast quantities of information, much of which is not scientifically correct. Fighting fake news is now the new front in the COVID-19 battle. This article comments on the role of…
Preferences/Values | Culture/Society | Global | Infectious Diseases | Social Determinants | Policy/Regulation | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology