DAVAO CITY—A center to aid in generating and analyzing crucial data on infectious diseases and their pattern would be established soon by the Mindanao campus of the University of the Philippines (UP).
While awaiting approval from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), its initial projects would involve the research cooperation with the Mapua-operated Malayan Colleges in Mindanao and a UP Mindanao-attached unit, the Philippine Genome Center-Mindanao.
The center is named Center for Applied Modeling, Data Analytics, and Bioinformatics for Decision-Support Systems in Health, or AMDABiDSS-Health, but would be renamed to Nicer Center, from the DOST’s program Niche Centers in the Regions (Nicer) program. The UP Mindanao is a beneficiary of this program.
The UP Mindanao said the proposed center would provide the necessary support to public health decisions in Southern Philippines by gathering information on infectious diseases and use advanced scientific approaches to understand public health risks better.
“Data analytics, mathematical modeling, genomics research, and quantitative risk analysis would be used to analyze and gather evidence to support proposed policies. The focus would be on more accurate disease prediction, improve the recovery prospects of infected individuals, and evaluate risk in communities through animal and water studies,” the UP Mindanao said.
It said local practices and attitudes would also be considered in making recommendations. Maps and data products would be made available to the public and other sectors to help create policies and decisions related to disease prevention and public-health.
Aside from working with other academic institutions, the center would link up with the public sector and civil- society organizations.
UP Mindanao said the Nicer center would fill the gap in “decision-support center for public health in the Southern Philippines.”
“With Mindanao’s cultural and biological diversity, it is more pressing to answer the challenges of disease investigation and disease-related policy implementation. The center would focus on the current Covid-19 pandemic and study other infectious diseases, such as dengue, in the future,” it added.
The center would “complement the ongoing local and national disease surveillance approaches and risk management” while practitioners in the interdisciplinary study of infectious diseases in the Mindanao regions may also enhance their critical and analytic skills through the center’s online webinars, or hands-on workshops.
Program leader, Dr. May Anne Mata of UP Mindanao disclosed that DOST Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara has conveyed to them the DOST Executive Committee’s decision that “UP Mindanao’s proposal is being considered for funding under the DOST’s Niche Centers in the Regions program.”
The Nicer center is part of the Mindanao Health Initiatives of UP Mindanao, which includes a proposed College of Medicine and a city hospital to be undertaken in partnership with the Davao City government.
The initial projects of the Center for Applied Modeling, Data Analytics, and Bioinformatics for Decision-Support Systems in Health are: 1) Predictive Modeling and Viral Phylodynamic Analysis on the Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Disease Outbreaks with considerations for Control and Logistics applied in Mindanao region.
Project Leader: May Anne E. Mata, PhD, UP Mindanao; 2) Risk Management and Enhanced Survival Analysis Integrated through Longitudinal Infectious Disease Data and Statistical Epidemiological Model using Clinical Risk Factors.
Project Leader Dr. Gernelyn T. Logrosa, PhD, Malayan Colleges Mindanao; 3) Vulnerability Assessment Tool: A Decision Support System for Pre-Emptive Preparedness on Emerging Infections Among Animal Reservoir in Urban Green Spaces.
Project Leader: Von Carlo P. Dela Torre, MSc., UP Mindanao; and 4) Integrated Wastewater-Based Epidemiology and Data Analytics for Community-Level Pathogen Surveillance and Genetic Tracking.
Project Leader: Lyre Anni Espada-Murao, PhD, UP Mindanao/PGC Mindanao.