stopping contagion at the source
DESCRIPTION
Learn more at: http://instedd.org/contagion/ The movie Contagion, from Warner Bros. and directed by Steven Soderbergh, is an action-thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak. It tells the story of the rapidly spreading pandemic with high mortality following the perspective of different players throughout their work investigating, communicating about, and mitigating the pandemic — as well as normal citizens suffering the consequences and coping with the lack of information about what’s unfolding around them. The movie has an excellent plot and script that reflects a good amount of research and ongoing advice (See Wired interview of Ian Lipkin). The movie skips the digital technology aspects (beyond vaccine development and social media) so we thought we could explain “how it’s done in the real world” (or at least, how it’s being increasingly done), based on real-world projects we have worked on in the last couple of years.TRANSCRIPT
a look at our work from the perspective of the movie
S T O P P I N G
AT T H E S O U R C E
Contagion does an excellent job at depicting real organizations at work in containing a pandemic. But a short movie can’t dive too deep or show all angles.
We will show you how technology is being designed and used around the world to make a difference in public health.
Spanning remote villages and the world’s largest cities, high-tech and low-tech, routine events and pandemics.
All the information is from real-world projects in which InSTEDD is helping NGOs, health agencies, and governments improve their ability to improve health and safety with technology.
rural & urban
In the film, the outbreak starts in an urban environment. Most of humanity lives in urban settings, however the largest interface between humans and animals (a key factor for zoonotic diseases) happens in rural areas.
GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Obtaining and processing information to help early detection
and early response.
Lack of trained people to process information and coordinate a rapid response.
Rapid response in remote areas
with challenges with language, connectivity, and education.
Thousands of village health workers use GeoChat to create mobile surveillance networks covering even the most remote areas. Many outbreaks are now contained locally.
InSTEDD’s field design work and iLabs invent ways so people with low literacy can report accurately.
| our work
sharing information
In the film, the outbreak is investigated trying to find ‘Patient X’ and understand the disease. Pen and paper
are always useful, but how can investigators in the CDC and beyond actually share information with each
other to accelerate the containment?
GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Investigators need to share information regardless of the tools
they have. Even agreeing on what data may be important takes time.
Governments, NGOs, hospitals, WHO, CDC, and others need to
collaborate and share data to understand the outbreak. Yet each one needs to control its information.
InSTEDD designed for the US Center for Disease Control peer to peer data sharing tools that work even when internet and GPRS is not available.
Investigations are often international. InSTEDD works globally to provide tools that help countries share disease data in secure, timely ways.
| our work
real time investigations
In the film, the information about the disease in the early stages appears quickly. Usually, finding
clues and accessing helpful information for analysis takes more time.
GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Every clue counts – pictures, video, and location play an important role in helping investigators.
There is a tradeoff between timely, high-quality, and complete information. Unfortunately, having all 3 simultaneously isn’t possible.
InSTEDD created modern tools for the Android tablet to support the New York Health Department in capturing and reporting multimedia data from the field.
InSTEDD provides tools to help curate real-time streams of information, find outlier health events, and filter data with the aid of machine learning.
| our work
global & local
In the film, the investigation is global. The ultimate goal is to contain and slow down outbreaks at their source - locally. And no one knows better how to do that than
the people who live there.
GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Most tools are designed for narrow purposes, while outbreaks demand more free-form collaboration.
Supporting local innovators in designing and implementing tools that fit their context.
InSTEDD tools are used everyday in surveillance and have been repurposed by the users on the go – from responding to floods to tracking new emerging diseases.
InSTEDD Innovation Labs are teams of designers, tech savvy and entrepreneurial people that invent & build the technologies their communities need.
| our work
regional networks
In the film, international agencies such as CDC and WHO play a crucial role in coordinating the
investigation and response. These days, a new form of organization is emerging that can complement their
function: regional networks of neighboring countries.
GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Diseases aren’t contained by borders or boundaries. The movement of
animals and workers is a major force in disease spread.
Investigators in neighboring countries need to build trust before events
happen. The politics of each outbreak are different and can even lead to threatened national security.
InSTEDD supports the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance Network with mobile
tools on sentinel border sites, that help track outbreaks as they cross borders.
InSTEDD technologies work internationally allowing agencies to share appropriate
information, securely, and 24x7. Users include Cambodia, China, Lao PDR,
Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
| our work
agile technology design
In the film, technologies are used that provide an instant display and understanding of data, yet the
development of information sharing technology is not highlighted. What happens when agencies with
disparate systems need to work together?
GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Accurately predicting the quality, sources and formats of relevant
information.
Lack of widely implemented,
supported and updated standards.
Adapting technologies to the users rather than the other way around.
InSTEDD’s approach is centered on working closely with users, listening and iterating the
process. We build and integrate custom systems when requested and provide the InSTEDD platform as free and open source.
As the 2009 H1N1 outbreak developed,
InSTEDD provided WHO with geoclustering tools that allowed them to compare reported vs. confirmed case spread based on their internal systems.
| our work
information flow
The film shows how easily modern society can be disrupted. Helping people get the information they need to help themselves is not done enough, even though the technology to do so already exists. The World Disaster Report confirms that “Disaster-affected
people need information as much as water, food, medicine, or shelter. Information can save lives, livelihoods and resources.”
GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Supply chains, transportation systems, and other infrastructures are fragile.
Lack of information amplifies the deaths and suffering of any event. Mobiles are an not used enough to provide personally relevant information to those threatened by the event.
InSTEDD provided AlertNet with the technology to send SMSs with aid
information to tens of thousands of survivors of the Haiti earthquake. 85% of
recipients acted differently as a result.
InSTEDD provided the American Red
Cross with tools that save key members hours in the activation of community
volunteers during times of crises.
| our work
official & crowdsourced data
In the film, “Nothing spreads like fear”. In our world information flows rapidly via mobiles and computers.
This information multiplies and replicates through tools like Twitter and Facebook. But is this viral
information flow being harnessed for good?
GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Reliability and accuracy social networks/media are questionable.
The truth itself may be unverified, complex, and open. Raw data is
typically not available or trustworthy.
Response agencies often are not social-media savvy, and their messages are easily overrun.
InSTEDD’s TaskMeUp and Riff tools allow teams to sift through live streams of information like tweets, news, blogs and SMS – combining crowd, expert, and algorithm-sourced data.
Simple mobile tools from InSTEDD speed up the validation of what’s really happening and educate health workers and reporters on what to look for.
| our work
Building Capacity within communities to foster a local culture of innovation
Ensuring Usefulness and Impact through research and evaluation
Collaborating with End Users through a bottom up design and development process
Creating Technologies for social good collaboration
At InSTEDD, we envision a world where communities everywhere design and use technology for their health, safety and development. We strive to achieve this vision through 4 key areas:
Learn more at www.instedd.org/contagion
rural & urban
sharing information
real time investigations
global & local
regional networks
agile technology design
information flow
official & crowdsourced data
the projects with local impact and global reach
the iLabs where social needs meet innovation
the technologies that make a difference
the services that can help create scalable impact
the domain expertise to guide the process
the global network to support the effort
facebook.com/InSTEDD @InSTEDD youtube.com/instedd flickr.com/instedd slideshare.net/instedd
All ™, ® and © contents –names, texts and logos- are property of their respective owners. !CONTAGION is a Warner Bros. Pictures trademark.!
The InSTEDD logo is © InSTEDD.!This presentation is shared under Creative Common: CC-by-nc-nd!
No celebrities were harmed during this research.!
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This wouldn’t have ben possible without….!
Everyone who worked on Contagion…! ..and everyone who works in public health every day!
This would not have been possible without...
Everyone who worked on the film and everyone who works in public health everyday!
All ™, ® and © contents –names, texts and logos- are property of their respective owners. Contagion is a Warner Bros. Pictures trademark.
The InSTEDD logo is © InSTEDD.This presentation is shared under Creative Common: CC-by-nc-nd
No celebrities were harmed during this research.