Improved preparedness for future pandemics and other health crises through large-scale disease surveillance (2.5)

Purpose and goal:

The aim of our project is to develop new tools and data infrastructures to create better preparedness in the future for pandemics, major disease outbreaks and other health crises in the population. In the development, we will use applied artificial intelligence, machine learning methods and other methods that are suitable for exploratory data analysis in large amounts of data.

Unique to our project is that all development will be done with great regard to the diversity that exists in the population in terms of age, gender, country of birth, living and social conditions and health. Expected results and effects:

A comprehensive data infrastructure with coordinated population data, necessary tools and adequate methods to make informed and differentiated decisions during health crises. It should be possible to use the infrastucture to quickly identify population groups or geographical areas in need of special efforts, for example to reduce the spread of infection.

It should also be possible to use infrastructure to continuously evaluate targeted interventions to reduce the spread of infection, increase the propensity to test or the willingness to vaccinate. Approach and implementation:

To succeed with our goals, we have established an intersectoral innovation environment as a collaboration between researchers at four different faculties at Lund University, Umeå University, Halmstad university college and three other participating parties: Region Skåne, Region Halland and the biotechnology company Xerum AB. The environment also works closely with Smittskydd Skåne, a number of other regions in Sweden and the two largest municipalities in Skåne, Malmö Stad and Helsingborg Stad, although these are not formally included as parties in proposal.