Bloomberg Supports UNPHU/AxisHealth Project to Use Artificial Intelligence in Epidemiological Control in Santo Domingo

Mike Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies implement programs to support projects to develop tools to understand, respond to and manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Partnering with local governments and prominent public health professionals, Bloomberg Philanthropies, along with its Smart Cities initiative, seeks to accelerate the fight against COVID-19 with a focus on helping mayors manage the crisis and its response.

The project in Santo Domingo, involves the management of UNPHU with the participation of the Ministry of Public Health and the City of Santo Domingo, and seeks to provide a technological solution for public health issues in the country. Under the title of «Artificial Intelligence Enhanced Epidemiological Intelligence Dashboard for Santo Domingo/National District», the aim is to develop predictive models of COVID-19 machine learning that will help in the operational public health response to the pandemic. 

Thanks to new information and communication technologies, we can work on solutions tailored to the present needs of government institutions. In this scenario, the team that forms AxisHealth digital entrepreneurship seeks to transform data into information and knowledge, which contribute to better decision making. 

This team, made up of Dr. Amado Alejandro Báez (research professor UNPHU), Engineer Juan Carlos Saladín (MBA), Dr. Víctor González (Ph.D.), and economist Marie Chantel Montás (MPH), has been awarded a concession by the prestigious organization Bloomberg Philanthropies, in the project «Data for Health (D4H) Initiative’s Global Grants Program.» 

Around the world, government institutions are in a continuous process of collecting and storing data. With the first great pandemic of the 21st century, governments have been forced to strengthen this process to generate timely information and make decisions with low levels of uncertainty and making the most of their resources. The main objective of this Bloomberg/AxisHealth project is to provide a tool that enables local government, to make informed decisions in a timely manner, and to assist in the implementation of data-driven decision-making to improve the capacity of hospitality/ICU resources in the National District.

With this intelligent platform, decision-makers will develop targeted strategies to stop outbreaks, and to fence off the most affected areas in time, notifying where the next outbreak will be and what possible measures at the level of strengthening response they can take to avoid a wave of contagion and a saturation of the health system.

By mid-August 2022, the National District will begin the work plan of the AxisHealth team together with the actors of the Ministry of Public Health, to move forward with the work schedule set by international agencies.