IET India launches a disease surveillance project to create predictive health models using public data

This is what IET India’s newly-launched Disease Surveillance Project will explore. The project will be executed in partnership with CHRI (Centre for Health Research and Innovation) as part of a funded CSR project by Siemens Healthineers India.

Developed on an insight that led to a spirited discussion around the pandemic in one of the Healthcare Working Group’s meetings, this project’s objective is to enable tech-enabled monitoring of disease trends, for epidemic prone diseases for early-state detection and response, thus enabling the prevention of another healthcare crisis.

Speaking on this initiative on World Health Day, Dr Vikram Venkateswaran, Healthcare WG, IET Future Tech Panel, said, “This is a landmark initiative from the IET Future Tech Panel on a challenge of National importance.

We want to be able to demonstrate the power of publicly available data for health surveillance and at the end of the project, build a first of its kind, scalable model.

With combined strengths of CHRI, IET and Siemens Healthineers, I am sure we will be able to build a unique solution to scale.”

Shekhar Sanyal, Country Head, IET India adds, “These kinds of multi-party, industry-partnerships and synergies are key in establishing important data-led, predictive and intuitive healthcare systems that the country needs today.

Tech-driven projects will be the cornerstone of lasting social impact, especially in healthcare. This project is a direct step towards solving the Healthy Lives societal challenge from the IET’s global strategic plan for 2030.”

The project will focus on developing a predictive model that can be replicated across the country. This will feed into the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme. The objectives of the project, which will be completed in two phases over next year, include:

1. To use publicly available disease related data;
2. To collect social and digital insights, and analyse trends using keyword-led hypothesis;
3. To develop a prediction model for a specific geography;
4. Refine the model to scale to larger geographies; and
5. Present the model to the Government of India to be adopted as part of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.

This is one of the many exciting initiatives that the Thought Leadership & Policy team is working on with the IET India’s Future Tech Panel for this year. Do get in touch with Ujani Ghosh (ujanighosh@theiet.in) or Anna Saju (annasaju@theiet.in) to find out more about IET India’s upcoming initiatives and plans.