141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

292023
Value of information analysis in decision-analytic modeling for malaria control in africa

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM

Dohyeong Kim, PhD , School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX
Zachary Brown, PhD , Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris, France
Richard Anderson, PhD , University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma, WA
Randall Kramer, PhD , Nicholas School of the Environment and Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC
Clifford Mutero, PhD , University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Marie Lynn Miranda, PhD , Children's Environmental Health Initiative, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
The Malaria Decision Analysis Support Tool (MDAST) project employs a comprehensive framework to assess the full range of health, social, and environmental risks and benefits associated with alternative malaria control strategies in order to promote evidence-based, multi-sectoral malaria control policymaking. While more broadly relevant, the tool has been initially tailored for use in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The tool provides a platform for decision-makers to enter information about the malaria control situation in their country, which is then automatically combined with peer-reviewed scientific research through the underlying MDAST structure, and estimates the potential impacts of proposed malaria control policies. However, substantial information gaps and uncertainties were identified in developing MDAST, especially regarding insecticide resistance, the effectiveness of larvicide alternatives, and baseline vector recruitment. To assess the importance of the information gaps, we: (1) identified areas where influential parameters are missing or involve high levels of uncertainty due to lack of evidence in the literature; (2) determined which parameters are more influential in determining key model results and examined how sensitive the modeling output measures are to each parameter; and (3) estimated a quantitative value of information (VOI). The outcome from these three steps can promote collaboration among researchers and policymakers to prioritize the most policy-relevant malaria research agenda in each country. This research enables MDAST users to invest optimally in the acquisition of new information that will in turn support better choices among malaria control options and improve the implementation of MDAST.

Learning Areas:
Biostatistics, economics
Communication and informatics
Epidemiology
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Describe the structure and roles of the Malaria Decision Analysis Support Tool (MDAST) in assessing the health, social, and environmental risks and benefits associated with alternative malaria control strategies in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Identify information gaps and uncertainties in designing MDAST with selected parameters and quantitatively assess value of information (VOI) for malaria control policy decisions. Discuss how the findings from the VOI analysis would enable users of the MDAST tool to invest optimally in the acquisition of new information that will in turn support better choices among malaria control options.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been participating in the WHO-funded project focusing on the development of a decision-analytic policy support tool for malaria control. I have taken the leading role of performing value-of-information analyses which identify information gaps and uncertainties in malaria control decisions in Africa.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.