The control of infectious diseases is required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good health and well-being), especially in developing countries that are considered vulnerable to infectious diseases. The use of data science in the control of infectious diseases is attracting increasing attention, and the development of innovative methods and technologies such as machine learning, mobile health (mHealth), health information system (HIS), and epidemiological modeling is rapidly progressing. In this session, we will introduce the front line of these data-driven approaches and discuss the direction of technology development required in developing countries in the future. The SDG – Universities Platform (SDG–UP) invited us to be one of the speakers in a session regarding SDG3 (Good health and well-being) at the Tsukuba Conference2021 on the 27th of September 2021.
One of our lab members, Von Ralph Dane Marquez Herbuela presented one of his projects under the supervision of Dr. Kozo Watanabe and with collaboration with our lab head, Dr. Tomonori Karita. His presentation highlighted the use of mobile phones in providing the global health community with innovative and cost-effective strategies to address the challenges in the prevention and management of infectious diseases such as dengue fever. The design, development, and assessment process of an integrated noncommercial mHealth app that features real-time reporting and mapping of dengue cases, comprehensive health communication, and an evidence-based behavior modification system tailored for members of the general public and health care professionals will be introduced. Its usability study revealed challenges such as adding multi-language options and Android availability tailored to users from low-income and rural communities, addressing data credibility, and user security and privacy issues will also be discussed. Considered as a potential strategic health intervention system for early detection of disease outbreaks and epidemics, part of its future directions is its expansion to an integrated mobile app and computer-based health information system (HIS) with a response system that will utilize remote sensing data and fuzzy logic-based predictive modeling not only for dengue fever but also a wide array of infectious diseases.
For more information about the conference, please see https://tsukuba-conference.com/sessions/c-16.
