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.
Decision Theory | Health/Medicine | Global | Priority Setting/Ethics | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Government/Law | Science/Technology -
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 | Health/Medicine | Global | Infectious Diseases | Culture/Society | 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 | Health/Medicine | Global | Infectious Diseases | Social Determinants | Policy/Regulation | Culture/Society | Science/Technology -
ArticlePublication 2021Correct COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation: Lancet Commission on COVID-19 Vaccines & Therapeutics Task Force Members
This brief “primer” assists healthcare providers in correcting a growing body of misinformation surrounding COVID-19 …
This brief “primer” assists healthcare providers in correcting a growing body of misinformation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines. In 2020, up to one-third or more of people surveyed both globally and in the U.S. indicated they might refuse the first COVID-19 vaccines when released through emergency use authorization (EUA). Their rationale included questions about vaccine efficacy, potential side effects, or speeding through regulatory approval processes. Even among healthcare workers, high rates of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy were noted.…
Preferences/Values | Health/Medicine | Global | Infectious Diseases | Social Determinants | Policy/Regulation | Global Governance | Culture/Society | Science/Technology -
ArticlePublication 2020Interpreting COVID-19 Test Results: A Bayesian Approach
This article considers the following question with respect to interpreting the results of polymerase chain reaction …
This article considers the following question with respect to interpreting the results of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays from nasal and pharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 to inform clinical decision making: "While a positive result in an acutely ill patient is straightforward, how should physicians interpret negative tests in patients with suspected COVID-19 infection?" Using an assumption of near-perfect specificity of PCR assays for COVID-19, the authors acknowledge the uncertainty of test sensitivity. They consider two clinical scenarios…
Probability/Bayes | Health/Medicine | Global | Test Performance | Infectious Diseases | Science/Technology -
ArticlePublication 2017Predicting Carer Health Effects for Use in Economic Evaluation
Illnesses and interventions can affect the health status of family carers in addition to patients. …
Illnesses and interventions can affect the health status of family carers in addition to patients. However economic evaluation studies rarely incorporate data on health status of carers. In order to investigate whether changes in carer health status could be ‘predicted’ from the health data of those they provide care to, as a means of incorporating carer outcomes in economic evaluation, the authors used regression models to analyse changes in carers’ health status. They derive predictive algorithms based on…
Preferences/Values | Health/Medicine | Europe | Health Outcomes | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Infectious Diseases | North America -
ArticlePublication 2017Using Cost-Effectiveness Analysis to Address Health Equity Concerns
This article serves as a guide to using cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) to address health equity …
This article serves as a guide to using cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) to address health equity concerns. The authors introduce the "equity impact plane," a tool for considering trade-offs between improving total health-the objective underpinning conventional CEA-and equity objectives, such as reducing social inequality in health or prioritizing the severely ill. Improving total health may clash with reducing social inequality in health, for example, when effective delivery of services to disadvantaged communities requires additional costs. Who…
Preferences/Values | Health/Medicine | Global | Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation -
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 | Health/Medicine | Global | Priority Setting/Ethics | Mathematical Models | Infectious Diseases | Health Systems | Global Governance | Economics/Finance | Government/Law -
ArticlePublication 2000Preference-Based Measures in Economic Evaluation in Health Care
Estimating preferences for states of health has been an active area of research in recent …
Estimating preferences for states of health has been an active area of research in recent years. Unlike psychophysical approaches, which discriminate levels of health status, preference-based approaches incorporate values or utilities for health outcomes and can be used in cost-effectiveness analyses to aid resource allocation decisions. This chapter considers issues and controversies involved in using preference-based measures in economic evaluation in health care, with a particular emphasis on cost-utility analysis and the estimation of quality-adjusted…
Preferences/Values | Health/Medicine | Europe | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | North America