IAI and Wellcome Trust publish report on software tools for climate-sensitive infectious diseases
The IAI and Wellcome Trust are proud to announce the publication of a report highlighting the lack of software tools for climate-sensitive infectious diseases. Among the 37 tools reviewed the following four are featured: AeDES Map Room, ANOSPEX, Disease Monitoring Dashboard, ECDC Geo-portal Dashboard.
Among the key findings are the following:
- In papers published over the past 10 years only 37 fully developed and named tools were found, suggesting that either the ecosystem of modelling tools is under invested in and/or that there are few incentives for high-quality curation of code.
- 81.1% of the identified tools are for vector-borne disease systems, meaning there is a shortage of tools for respiratory, foodborne, and waterborne diseases.
- North American and European institutions created the majority of tools, highlighting the need for greater global representation.
- There are several key barriers to tool implementation, including a lack of effective communication between modellers and decision makers, that need to be addressed.
Governments and funders in the Americas region should rapidly find the best mechanisms to adequately invest in operationalized, accessible and ready to use software tools to predict and prevent infectious diseases. Efforts should consider the need to establish a community of practice permitting organized exchange and support for researchers and practitioners from different sectors, across the region, to collaborate based on an agreed agenda.
You can access the report here:
An interactive executive summary and a curated list of the 37 identified tools are available here:
https://hetco.io/tools-for-climate-sensitive-diseases/
