Apps for Rapid Epidemiological Analysis (AREA)

Health surveillance has the potential to contribute to understanding epidemic causes and progression. It consists of systematic collection and reporting of population-based data for the purposes of detecting, characterizing, and countering health threats. While this is sound theory, in practice, particularly in disaster medicine and ongoing SSTRO, the surveillance execution is inhibited by interrelated factors, including a lack of traditional computing infrastructures. However, hand held devices, such as cell phones, smart phones and personal data assistants (PDAs) have become viable computing assets that can provide an effective and practical means to not only perform surveillance, and other complex data analysis and computational analyses that have traditionally been in the realm of desktop (or larger) computing systems. Yet current Apps targeted for these devices have not tapped into their power. They have focused only on collecting and sharing large quantities of survey-related healthcare data. Healthcare-centric apps must include the other two, more complex, elements of the triad - analysis and forecasting capabilities if they are to truly benefit the MHS in the multifaceted operational environments they face now and in the future. Securboration has assembled a world-class team of technologists and MHS experts to address these challenges and develop apps for rapid epidemiological analysis (AREA).