Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2017Using Data-Driven Agent-Based Models to Forecast Emerging Infectious Diseases
This paper describes an agent-based model framework developed to forecast the 2014-15 Ebola epidemic, which …
This paper describes an agent-based model framework developed to forecast the 2014-15 Ebola epidemic, which was subsequently used in the Ebola forecasting challenge. Producing timely and reliable forecasts for an epidemic of an emerging infectious disease is a challenge. Epidemiologists and policy makers have to deal with poor data quality, limited understanding of the disease dynamics, a rapidly changing social environment and the uncertainty around the effects of various interventions in place. In this setting,…
Dynamic Simulation | Calibration/Validation | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa | Microsimulation | Infectious Diseases -
ReportPublication 2016Modeling to Inform Strategies to Improve Population Health
This workshop report summarizes a workshop convened by the Institute of Medicine to explore the potential …
This workshop report summarizes a workshop convened by the Institute of Medicine to explore the potential uses of simulation and other types of modeling for improving health. Participants worked to identify how modeling could inform population health decision making (selecting and refining potential strategies, ranging from interventions to investments) based on lessons learned from models that have been, or have not been, used successfully, opportunities and barriers to incorporating models into decision making, and data needs and…
Dynamic Simulation | Health/Medicine | Climate/Environment | North America | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Microsimulation | Decision Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Environmental Health | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Government/Law -
BookPublication 2015Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes, 4th Edition
The 2015 edition of Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes provides a …
The 2015 edition of Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes provides a 'tool kit' for undertaking health economic evaluations. The report is aimed at researchers, health service professionals and policy makers without a formal economics background. The recommendations are based on the authors' own experiences and so are practical in nature. The book describes the challenges of allocating resources efficiently and fairly, including challenges in methodology and policy formation. Examples are provided.…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Value of Information | Health/Medicine | North America | Preferences/Values | Priority Setting/Ethics | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Evidence Synthesis | Mathematical Models | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | Science/Technology | Global | Europe -
ArticlePublication 2024Adopting Electric School Buses in the U.S.: Health & Climate Benefits
This article evaluates the health and climate benefits of replacing diesel school buses with electric …
This article evaluates the health and climate benefits of replacing diesel school buses with electric models in the U.S. Despite the high cost of electric buses, their benefits in reducing mortality and childhood asthma, as well as greenhouse gas emissions, could justify the investment. The study quantifies the benefits of replacing an average diesel bus with an electric bus, estimating $84,200 in total benefits per bus, with $40,400 from climate benefits and $43,800 from health…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Health/Medicine | North America | Environmental Health | Government/Law -
ArticlePublication 2023Calibration and Validation of the Colorectal Cancer and Adenoma Incidence and Mortality (CRC-AIM) Microsimulation Model Using Deep Neural Networks
This study explores the efficacy of machine learning (ML)-based emulators in calibrating complex microsimulation models, …
This study explores the efficacy of machine learning (ML)-based emulators in calibrating complex microsimulation models, using the Colorectal Cancer (CRC)-Adenoma Incidence and Mortality (CRC-AIM) model as a case study. ML algorithms, including deep neural networks (DNN), were trained and compared using data generated from the CRC-AIM model to predict various outcomes. The DNN outperformed other algorithms and efficiently predicted outcomes, reducing computational burden significantly. The calibrated CRC-AIM model demonstrated cross-model validity against established CISNET models…
Calibration/Validation | Health/Medicine | North America | Microsimulation | Chronic Disease/Risk -
ArticlePublication 2023Benefits and Costs of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Written mid-pandemic, this article evaluates the direct costs and health benefits of requiring COVID-19 vaccinations …
Written mid-pandemic, this article evaluates the direct costs and health benefits of requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for U.S. federal employees and healthcare and private sector workers. These mandates were controversial and some were halted by litigation. If they had been implemented as intended, the net benefits would depend on the course of the pandemic. If a more transmissible variant (such as Omicron) emerges, the net benefits may be large. If the pandemic instead fades, the benefits…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Health/Medicine | North America | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Government/Law -
ArticlePublication 2022COVID-19 Response: The Need for Economic Evaluation
COVID-19-related policies are fraught with trade-offs. Many of these trade-offs involve dimensions that can be …
COVID-19-related policies are fraught with trade-offs. Many of these trade-offs involve dimensions that can be quantitatively weighed using economic evaluation, such as those between health and cost outcomes. Other types of dimensions, such as those involving equity or autonomy, can be harder to quantify but should be considered in a comprehensive health policy decision-making context nonetheless. The authors of this New England Journal of Medicine Perspectives article outline how methods of economic evaluation and decision…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Health/Medicine | North America | Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Global -
ArticlePublication 2021COVID and the Age–VSL Relationship
In this article, the researchers explore the approach used to value COVID-19 mortality risk reductions …
In this article, the researchers explore the approach used to value COVID-19 mortality risk reductions in analyses of lockdowns and other policies. Many rely on a population-average estimate of the value per statistical life (VSL); others adjust VSL for life expectancy at the age of death. The article explores the implications of theory and empirical studies, which suggest that the relationship between age and VSL is uncertain; these uncertainties in turn may affect whether the…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Health/Medicine | North America | Preferences/Values | Infectious Diseases | Government/Law -
Resource PackPublication, Teaching Resource 2024Resource Pack: Ethiopian Health Decision Sciences
This resource pack provides a curated set of peer-reviewed articles that represent the growing evidence …
This resource pack provides a curated set of peer-reviewed articles that represent the growing evidence base for decision making and priority setting in Ethiopia - with an emphasis on improving health, reducing inequity, and preventing health-related impoverishment. Curated by Dr. Stéphane Verguet at the Center for Health Decision Science, most of the papers reflect work done as part of the Disease Control Priorities-Ethiopia (DCP-E) project. The pack provides scholarship that spans maternal-child health, vaccine-preventable disease, infectious…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa | Priority Setting/Ethics | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Mathematical Models | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health Systems | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Decision Making/Leadership | Policy Translation