Resources Repository
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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…
Mathematical Models | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases | Dynamic Transmission | Dynamic Simulation | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis -
ArticlePublication 2016Global Burden of Latent Tuberculosis Infection
Given the importance of controlling latent TB infection (LTBI) as part of the End TB …
Given the importance of controlling latent TB infection (LTBI) as part of the End TB Strategy for eliminating TB by 2050, the authors felt that changes in demography and scientific understanding, and progress in TB control, made it necessary to re-assess the global burden of LTBI. The authors used constructed trends in annual risk in infection to calculate the number and proportions of individuals infected, recently infected, and recently infected with isoniazid (INH)-resistant strains, aggregated…
Mathematical Models | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases | Evidence Synthesis | Global -
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 | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases | State-Transition | Dynamic Transmission | Microsimulation | Dynamic Simulation | Global Governance | Government/Law | Military/Defense | Global -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2015Economic Evaluations with Agent-Based Modelling: An Introduction
This tutorial presents the basic concepts and important features of agent-based models, and provides a …
This tutorial presents the basic concepts and important features of agent-based models, and provides a case study of a simple cost effectiveness analysis of screening for an infectious disease. Agent-based modelling (ABM) is a relatively new technique, which overcomes some of the limitations of other methods commonly used for economic evaluations. These limitations include linearity, homogeneity and stationarity. Agents in ABMs are autonomous entities, who interact with each other and with the environment. ABMs provide…
Mathematical Models | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases | Dynamic Simulation | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Conceptual Mapping | Quantitative Literacy -
ArticlePublication 2015Health Gains & Financial Risk Protection by Public Financing in Ethiopia: An ECEA
This article, published in the Lancet Global Health, aims to evaluate the health and financial …
This article, published in the Lancet Global Health, aims to evaluate the health and financial risk protection benefits of selected interventions that could be publicly financed by the government of Ethiopia. The authors used an extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) to assess the health gains (deaths averted) and financial risk protection afforded (cases of poverty averted) by a bundle of nine interventions that the Government of Ethiopia aims to make universally available. This approach incorporates financial…
Mathematical Models | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases | Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Maternal/Reproductive Health | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Sub-Saharan Africa -
ReportPublication 2015Chapter 4: Cervical Cancer
This chapter focuses on the possibility of primary prevention of cervical cancer as a result …
This chapter focuses on the possibility of primary prevention of cervical cancer as a result of the introduction of two commercially available vaccines against human papillomavirus (HPV). Few low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have initiated or sustained cytology-based cervical cancer prevention programs, and these countries experience very high incidence and mortality rates. Fortunately, alternative strategies to prevent cervical cancer have been investigated and extensively evaluated in these settings. The authors report findings from cost-effectiveness analyses…
Mathematical Models | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Clinical Care | Science/Technology | Global -
ArticlePublication 2014Rise and Fall of HIV in High-Prevalence Countries: A Challenge for Mathematical Modeling
Several countries with generalized, high-prevalence HIV epidemics, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, have experienced rapid declines …
Several countries with generalized, high-prevalence HIV epidemics, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, have experienced rapid declines in transmission. These HIV epidemics, often with rapid onsets, have generally been attributed to a combination of factors related to high-risk sexual behavior. The subsequent declines in these countries began prior to widespread therapy or implementation of any other major biomedical prevention. This change has been construed as evidence of behavior change, often on the basis of mathematical models, but…
Mathematical Models | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases | Health Outcomes | Sub-Saharan Africa -
Lesson/ModuleWeb Portal, Teaching Resource 2014Life Saving Maths: How Does Vaccination Work?
This learning module explores decision-making in vaccinations, and unpacks how epidemics spread through herd immunity. …
This learning module explores decision-making in vaccinations, and unpacks how epidemics spread through herd immunity. Through video clips, Dr. Julia Gog and Dr. Andrew Conlan explain simple mathematical models for infectious disease to illustrate the importance of immunization. Related resources, such as activities, worksheets, and presentations, are available to help students investigate the effects of vaccination. These activities are recommended to be used together but can also be used independently. They are aimed at a…
Mathematical Models | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases | Dynamic Transmission | Science/Technology | Global | High School | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Quantitative Literacy -
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 | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases | Dynamic Transmission | Science/Technology