Digital Epidemiology and COVID-19 Pandemic

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Biosciences and Bioengineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2023) | Viewed by 3198

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
ULR 2694-METRICS, CHU Lille, Université de Lille, 59000 Lille, France
Interests: digital health; real-world evidence; patient expertise

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Guest Editor
Département de Santé Publique, Université de Lomé, 0000 Lomé, Togo
Interests: Africa; SARS-CoV2; epidemic; digital health

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic has required the rapid adaptation of scientific research to produce effective and efficient responses. Ultimately, the pandemic has resulted in the transformation of practices, at present increasingly relying on the use of information technology (IT). In this context, digital epidemiology, which relies on the use of new sources of information from digital traces (e.g., mobile phone, social networks, and webpage access logs), gradually appears as a useful complementary approach to traditional models of the surveillance, detection, and monitoring of diseases and therapeutic responses.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, various research teams around the world have attempted to combine epidemiological techniques and methods together with advanced analytics obtained from data science to develop and offer decision-making tools to health-policy decision makers. The way in which these novel approaches, both technological and methodological, have been operationalized in Africa deserves particular attention, in order to better understand how the responses and preparation for re-emergency have been organized in different countries. In fact, when compared to other regions, the African experience during this pandemic seems unique regarding the relatively lower number of reported cases and deaths caused by COVID-19. Many factors may explain this phenomenon.

In this Special Issue of Applied Sciences, we invite the submission of papers that report on the specific experiences of how IT sources of data and/or advanced analytical methods have been used to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic in different countries over the world, especially in Africa. This includes a broad perspective comprising and not limited to data warehouse building/exploitation, as well as the IT-based monitoring of vaccination strategies and vaccination- and/or drug-related effects reported by populations or health professionals (e.g., released on social networks or other digital routes).

Prof. Dr. Benjamin Guinhouya
Prof. Dr. Didier K. Ékouévi
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Africa
  • health data
  • IT
  • SARS-CoV2

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 2494 KiB  
Communication
COVIX—An Index Allowing for the Assessment of the Pandemic Situation Based on Infections and Hospitalisation Data
by Michel Kschonnek, Iryna Dobrovolska, Ulrike Protzer and Rudi Zagst
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 4554; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13074554 - 03 Apr 2023
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Abstract
Monitoring and assessing the severity of the pandemic situation is one of the key challenges that public officials faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Daily new infections may lead to flawed assessments, as infected individuals lead to different constraints imposed on the health care [...] Read more.
Monitoring and assessing the severity of the pandemic situation is one of the key challenges that public officials faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Daily new infections may lead to flawed assessments, as infected individuals lead to different constraints imposed on the health care system amid varying pandemic determinants. On the other hand, hospitalisations or hospital bed occupancy may lead to outdated assessments, as the corresponding data are only observable with considerable delay. In this study, we introduce a hospital beds model, which relates the three quantities of daily new infections, daily hospitalisation rates, and daily hospital bed occupancy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using this model, we develop COVIX—a severity index that assesses the impact of a pandemic in comparison to a specified reference date while taking infection and disease risks into account. The developed methodology and its implications are illustrated on data for the German federal state of Bavaria. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Epidemiology and COVID-19 Pandemic)
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15 pages, 1611 KiB  
Article
Internet-Based Video Program to Promote Physical Activity, Health, and Well-Being of Brazilian Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Marcelo de Maio Nascimento, João Victor Silva Araújo, Pedro Cecílio da Cruz Neto, Pâmala Morais Bagano Rios, Carolina Nascimento Silva and Andreas Ihle
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 4326; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13074326 - 29 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1527
Abstract
In 2020 and 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus spread rapidly across the world, causing the COVID-19 pandemic with millions of deaths. One of the measures to protect life was confinement, which negatively affected physical and mental health, especially of the older population. The aim [...] Read more.
In 2020 and 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus spread rapidly across the world, causing the COVID-19 pandemic with millions of deaths. One of the measures to protect life was confinement, which negatively affected physical and mental health, especially of the older population. The aim of this study is to present and evaluate the methodological procedures of a telehealth and eHealth program “U3A in Motion”, which was composed of videos of physical exercises and activities to promote the mental health and well-being of the older Brazilian population during the COVID-19 pandemic. The procedures included the planning, editing, and dissemination of videos through WhatsApp, and also on the YouTube platform, Instagram, and on a website. A total of 82 videos were created. The action reached 350 older adults from the local community in the northeast of Brazil, as well as being accessed by approximately 3000 other older adults from institutions in the southern region of Brazil. Based on the evaluation of activities through telephone interviews, it was found that older adults participating in the “U3A in Motion” program during confinement were highly motivated to access exercise activities, mainly via mobile phones, and reported a positive effect on physical and mental health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Epidemiology and COVID-19 Pandemic)
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