World Epidemic Portal

Team Leader

Steven Wu

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

One-line solution summary:

A mobile app to offer people an one-stop solution for social good during not only COVID-19 pandemic but applicable for other epidemic events

Pitch your solution.

During a pandemic like COVID-19, we need many resources and information to get through it. We need to know its domestic and global trends, where to buy masks and sanitizers, any confirmed cases nearby, where to obtain medical consultations, and much more. As part of the efforts fighting COVID-19, many digital solutions for satisfying these diverse needs had been developed or are developing. As a result, we may have too many new apps and websites for similar short-term purposes, and in the future reinvent these tools for needs common to many other epidemic events. To solve these problems as a response to this challenge, the Solver would like to suggest the development of World Epidemic Portal (WEP) as a mobile app to offer people a one-stop online solution for COVID-19 and other epidemic events. It aims at helping people response to these events more efficiently and effectively in the future.

What specific problem are you solving?

Background:
COVID-19 unexpectedly becomes a pandemic and a huge threat to human beings. As part of the efforts fighting COVID-19, many digital solutions for different purposes had been developed or are under development.

Problems:
(a) People need resources and information in different aspects to help them get through the COVID-19 pandemic. They need to know domestic and global news about the pandemic, where to buy masks and sanitizers, if any confirmed cases are nearby, how to get online medical consultations, where and how to get vaccinations, and much more. That means there will be way too many new apps or websites for people to handle during this period.
(b) Many applications are not just useful for the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, knowing where to buy masks and sanitizers is also important for H1N1 and other flu epidemics. Reinventing an app for those common needs again and again should be avoided.
(c) A local epidemic event may develop a global pandemic issue if it can’t be prevented in the early stage. Therefore, efficiently sharing validated information or resources between different healthcare systems, e.g. from a country to another one, is important for people’s response to these events effectively.

What is your solution?

The Solution:
To solve the aforementioned problems, the Solver would like to suggest the development of a module-based mobile app, i.e. World Epidemic Portal (WEP), as a portal for supporting people’s needs in this and the coming pandemics. The solution help build a learning health system to prevent next pandemic.

Frontend of the Solution:
(a) The proposed solution has a reference, i.e. a mobile app, named COVID-19, accomplished by the Vietnamese government. The COVID-19 app is independent and serves a pandemic portal for Vietnamese people. For more details about the COVID-19 app, please refer to: https://play.google.com/store/...
(b) The COVID-19 app provides many functions and covers a variety of needs commonly for other epidemic events. Based on its design as shown in green in Figure 1, the WEP app expands into other epidemic events.
(c) For being applicable for users of different countries and languages, country-specific versions of the app with a multilingual interface will be prepared.

Backend of the Solution:
The solution introduces the concept of modules into the design for handling common needs among different events (the blue part). Emerging technologies, such as AI, can be included in the development of modules, depending on the functions in need.

Figure 1.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

This solution serves people who are affected by epidemic/pandemic events and looking for helpful resources and information online. It impacts their lives by comprehensively covering the needs of people during the pandemic periods with a single app, and saving time and resources on looking for helpful digital tools for resources and information, whereas taking responses to these events more efficiently and effectively.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Prevent the spread of misinformation and inspire individuals to protect themselves and their communities, including through information campaigns and behavioral nudges.

Explain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the Challenge.

People need resources and information in different aspects to help them get through not only the COVID-19 pandemic but also other epidemics. They need domestic and global news about the pandemic, knowing where to buy masks, knowing if any confirmed cases are nearby, online medical consultations, vaccination information, and much more, at the same time. The solution was proposed to satisfy their needs at one shop and, therefore, aligns well with the Challenge.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Taipei, Taiwan

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Prototype: A venture or organization building and testing its product, service, or business model.

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution.

A website at https://epidemics.world/ was created as a web-version alternative of the proposed solution for testing the concept. Therefore, prototype was selected as the stage of development for the solution.

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Steven Wu, CEO

More About Your Solution

Partnership & Prize Funding Opportunities

Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Prize? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.

Yes, I wish to apply for this prize

Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Prize to advance your solution?

The solution aims at helping people response to epidemic and pandemic events more efficiently and effectively in the future. The module-based functions of this one-stop online solution can be customized and localized for the US users. For a given event, these functions help the US people know its domestic and global trends, any confirmed cases nearby, where to buy masks and sanitizers, where to obtain medical consultations, where and how to get vaccinations, etc. If the solution is selected for this prize, it will be used to develop functions to directly address the health of the US people.

Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for The Andan Prize for Innovation in Refugee Inclusion? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.

Yes, I wish to apply for this prize

Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use The Andan Prize for Innovation in Refugee Inclusion to advance your solution?

Refugees are usually very limited in accessing health information and resources in their host countries. It makes them very weak when the exposure to the threats of epidemic and pandemic events. As a one-stop online solution aims at helping people worldwide response to these events efficiently and effectively, the module-based functions customized and localized to specific countries can improve refugees’ capability of accessing health information and resources. Therefore, it will advance the economic, financial and political inclusion of refugees in terms of health issues. If the solution is selected for the prize, it will be used to develop functions which directly address the health of refugees.

Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for the Innovation for Women Prize? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.

Yes, I wish to apply for this prize

Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use the Innovation for Women Prize to advance your solution?

The proposed solution aims at helping people worldwide response to epidemic and pandemic events efficiently and effectively. Different groups of people, such as women and girls, men and boys, and elders, may need specific information or resources to satisfy their own health needs. The solution is module-based, thus has a high flexibility to add new functions needed specifically for women and girls and improve quality of life for them. If the solution is selected for the prize, it will be used to develop functions which are especially needed for women and girls.

Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for The AI for Humanity Prize? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.

Yes, I wish to apply for this prize

Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use The AI for Humanity Prize to advance your solution?

The solution is module-based. Data science and artificial intelligence techniques can be used to develop some functions of the solution. For example, forecasting domestic and global trends for a given epidemic or pandemic event is an important function for improving people’s awareness of the event and help them determine their personal strategies for responding to the event. If the solution is selected for this prize, it will be used for developing more data science or AI-based functions to satisfy the needs for achieving the solution’s goals.

Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for The Global Fund Prize? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.

Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use The Global Fund Prize to advance your solution?

As a one-stop online solution helps people worldwide response to infectious diseases efficiently and effectively, one of its goals is to improve the availability and accessibility of life saving health products for people at health facilities. For example, user behavior data of patients with HIV, TB or malaria combined with AI algorithms may help health facilities more precisely estimate how many life saving health products they need to prepare in advance. If the solution is selected for the prize, it will be used to develop functions which can facilitate community-led monitoring of supply chain services, e.g. forecasting the regional needs of life saving health products for a variety of infectious diseases.

Solution Team:

Steven Wu