EpiMap: towards quantifying contact networks and modelling the spread of infections in developing countries

Abstract

We describe the EpiMap project, in which mobile phones and sensors record the proximity of other devices, to gather information on human interactions within the rural communities of developing countries. Collected information will be used to develop improved mathematical models of the spread of infectious diseases, such as measles, tuberculosis and pneumococcal diseases. Modelling will be complemented by the use of surveys to aid in the understanding of living conditions in these villages. EpiMap is an extension of the FluPhone project, which we carried out in 2010. FluPhone collected data on human interaction, by using mobile phones to record information such as locality and user symptoms. Delay tolerant opportunistic networks such as the Haggle framework [5] were used as a basis for communication. We introduce the EpiMap vision for a system of opportunistic networks combined with satellite communication, designed to face the challenges posed by weak power and communications infrastructure in the rural regions of developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America. We aim to use a delay-tolerant small satellite for data transfer between developing countries and Europe and North America. Data collected through EpiMap can be used to help design more efficient vaccination strategies and equitable control programmes.