eBarometer

Turning big data into a revolutionary and actionable Disease Surveillance and Alert System. Together against Dengue.

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Lack of accurate mechanisms

A key problem in the fight against dengue is the lack of accurate mechanisms to track the spread and impact of dengue. Timely and accurate surveillance is critical to identifying areas where dengue transmission is ongoing or likely to occur so that interventions such as vaccination and vector eradication can be more effective. The Dengue eBarometer is a powerful answer.

Advances in digital technology

Advances in digital technology have led Break Dengue to lead the development of the Dengue eBarometer, a tool that leaps past the limitations of traditional epidemiological surveillance methodology. In the past, the only way to get information was through officially sources which lags behind the spread of a dengue outbreak while also underreporting its extent.

The approach

(1.) The eBarometer brings together multiple data sources including traditional epidemiological sources, search queries, crowd-surveillance from Dengue Track, social media, and potentially other relevant or complementary data. (2.) The data is cleaned, assimilated and modeled individually per source and then aggregated into multi-source models. (3.) Data output is then made actionable both in terms of format and through specific channels to various public health actors. (4.) Finally, each end user in turn can submit their own observed data (confirmed dengue cases, on site interventions, breeding sites, etc.) that will feed back into the eBarometer.

Key data source

Crowd-surveillance with Dengue Track - an online interactive tool that collects information about dengue outbreaks from those affected or relatives and in return offers them tailored advice to help reduce the spread of the disease. Through its interactive chat it provides a reliable source of crowd surveillance data.

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Current partners

Become a partner

Do you feel inspired by this endeavour? Do you want to join the fight against dengue? The Break Dengue Alliance is seeking additional partners essential to making the dengue surveillance tool fully operational. New members of the alliance will join the existing partners to support in areas such as:

  • Identifying, collecting, cleaning, and integrating data sources to track the burden of dengue in near real time (e.g. Twitter and other social media, epidemiological sources, weather trends, etc.).
  • Providing funding or other resources to help build the tool.
  • Developing a user interface for displaying dengue predictions on a geo-localized map and providing information in a way easily accessible to users.
  • In the long term, integrating a mechanism to display likely mosquito population locations and migration patterns.
  • Providing grant writing expertise and assistance.