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 Simulation | Mathematical Models | Dynamic Transmission | Infectious Diseases | Health Systems | Climate/Environment | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Quantitative Literacy -
ArticlePublication 2017Reduced Burden of Childhood Diarrheal Diseases through Increased Access to Water and Sanitation in India: Modeling Analysis
This analysis estimates the health and economic benefits of scaling up the coverage of piped …
This analysis estimates the health and economic benefits of scaling up the coverage of piped water and improved sanitation to a near-universal 95% level among Indian households. The authors used an agent-based microsimulation platform, IndiaSim, to model disease progression and individual healthcare-seeking behavior in India, and use ECEA to estimate health and economic outcomes over time. They found that scaling up access to piped water and improved sanitation could avert 43,352 diarrheal episodes and 68…
Microsimulation | Priority Setting/Ethics | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Child/Nutrition | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Economics/Finance | Energy/Engineering | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2017Likelihood Approach for Calibration of Stochastic Epidemic Models
Stochastic transmission dynamic models are especially useful for studying the early emergence of novel pathogens …
Stochastic transmission dynamic models are especially useful for studying the early emergence of novel pathogens given the importance of chance events when the number of infectious individuals is small. However, methods for parameter estimation and prediction for these types of stochastic models remain limited. This paper describes a calibration and prediction framework for stochastic compartmental transmission models of epidemics. The proposed method applies a linear noise approximation to describe the size of the fluctuations, and…
Dynamic Simulation | Dynamic Transmission | Calibration/Validation | Infectious Diseases | Health Systems | Health/Medicine | Global -
ArticlePublication 2016Cost-Effectiveness of Hypertension Treatment According to 2014 Guidelines
This article compared the cost-effectiveness of hypertension treatment in non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites according …
This article compared the cost-effectiveness of hypertension treatment in non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites according to 2014 US hypertension treatment guidelines. The cardiovascular disease (CVD) policy model was used to simulate CVD events, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and treatment costs in 35- to 74-year-old adults with untreated hypertension. CVD incidence, mortality, and risk factor levels were obtained from cohort studies, hospital registries, vital statistics, and national surveys. The authors assumed a willingness-to-pay for health of…
Microsimulation | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health/Medicine | North America -
ArticlePublication 2016Cost-Effectiveness of Blood Pressure Treatment Guidelines in Adults 35-74
In this article the authors used the CVD Policy Model to compare the cost-effectiveness of …
In this article the authors used the CVD Policy Model to compare the cost-effectiveness of conservative versus intensive blood pressure treatment guidelines in adult hypertensive patients aged 35 to 74 years. Outcomes included in the study were CVD events, treatment costs, quality-adjusted life years, and drug and monitoring costs projected over the years 2016 to 2026. The effectiveness and costs of hypertension were calculated for treatment according to the 2003 Joint National Committee (JNC)-7 or…
Microsimulation | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine | North America -
ArticlePublication 2016Cost-Effectiveness of Diagnosing HIV Infection During Early Infancy in South Africa
In this study the clinical impact and cost-effectiveness of four different early infant HIV diagnosis …
In this study the clinical impact and cost-effectiveness of four different early infant HIV diagnosis (EID) testing strategies for HIV-exposed infants in South Africa were compared using a microsimulation model. The strategies included (1) no EID (diagnosis only after illness), (2) and (3) testing once (at birth alone or at 6 weeks of age alone), and (4) testing twice (at birth and 6 weeks of age). Findings showed that the testing at birth alone strategy…
Microsimulation | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Child/Nutrition | 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 Simulation | Mathematical Models | Dynamic Transmission | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2016Prevention of Hepatitis C by Screening and Treatment in U.S. Prisons
This study assesses the health and economic impact of hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening and …
This study assesses the health and economic impact of hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening and treatment in U.S. prisons on the broader HCV epidemic. Employing an agent-based microsimulation model of HCV transmission and disease progression, data from published literature inform the analysis. The target populations include individuals in U.S. prisons and the general community over a 30-year timeframe, adopting a societal perspective. Interventions encompass risk-based and universal opt-out HCV screening in prisons, followed by treatment…
Microsimulation | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health/Medicine | North America -
ArticlePublication 2015Cost-Effectiveness of First-Line Antiretroviral Therapy for HIV-Infected African Children Less Than 3 Years of Age
This article compares the cost-effectiveness of different strategies of first-line antiretroviral therapy (no ART, first-line nevirapine …
This article compares the cost-effectiveness of different strategies of first-line antiretroviral therapy (no ART, first-line nevirapine with second-line lopinavir/ritonavir, and first-line lopinavir/ritonavir with second-line nevirapine) for HIV-infected children less than 3 years of age in Africa, using the Cost-Effectiveness of Preventing AIDS Complications- Pediatric model and data obtained from the International Maternal, Pediatric, and Adolescent Clinical Trial P1060 trial. Results demonstrated that both ART regimens were very cost-effective compared to no ART. First-line lopinavir/ritonavir led to longer…
Microsimulation | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Child/Nutrition | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa