Journal article

Prioritising infectious disease mapping

DM Pigott, RE Howes, A Wiebe, KE Battle, N Golding, PW Gething, SF Dowell, TH Farag, AJ Garcia, AM Kimball, LK Krause, CH Smith, SJ Brooker, HH Kyu, T Vos, CJL Murray, CL Moyes, SI Hay

Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases | PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE | Published : 2015

Abstract

Background Increasing volumes of data and computational capacity afford unprecedented opportunities to scale up infectious disease (ID) mapping for public health uses. Whilst a large number of IDs show global spatial variation, comprehensive knowledge of these geographic patterns is poor. Here we use an objective method to prioritise mapping efforts to begin to address the large deficit in global disease maps currently available. Methodology/Principal Findings Automation of ID mapping requires bespoke methodological adjustments tailored to the epidemiological characteristics of different types of diseases. Diseases were therefore grouped into 33 clusters based upon taxonomic divisions and sh..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Global Health)


Awarded by Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship


Awarded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation


Funding Acknowledgements

The initial work to develop a platform that will map a range of infectious diseases is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Global Health Grant Number OPP1093011), and the authors are grateful to the Surveillance and Vaccine Development team for their contribution to the prioritisation work described in this paper. DMP is funded by a Sir Richard Southwood Graduate Scholarship from the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford; REH is financially supported by a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship to SIH (#095066) which also supports AW and KEB; NG is funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1053338). SJB is supported by a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship (#092765) and acknowledges the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1033751). CLM is funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1093011). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.