Big Data Science

Leveraging available HIV-related data for key populations to assemble multiple data sources and integrate into a comprehensive data warehouse to estimate key population-specific indicators, inform dynamic transmission models to estimate differential risks of onward HIV transmission and utilize programmatic data in partnership with implementing partners in Cameroon, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa.

Project Dates: July 2022 – June 2027

Principal Investigator: Stefan Baral

Co-Investigators: Katherine Rucinski; Amrita Rao; Le Bao; Runze Li; Xiaoyue Niu; Sharmistha Mishra; Ian Laga; Refilwe Phaswana-Mafuya; Parinita Bhattacharjee; Daouda Diouf

Description: Big Data is a research grant with objectives to leverage novel methods with large and underutilized data sets to evaluate the potential impact of increasingly specific HIV responses across generalized epidemic settings in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The project is being completed under four specific aims: (1) Build a flexible, comprehensive, and accessible data warehouse collating available HIV-related and relevant auxiliary data for key populations from 2000 onward in SSA; (2) Employ small area estimation methods and spatial statistics using available direct and auxiliary data to infer population size, prevalence, and engagement in the treatment cascade for key populations; (3) Characterize the transmission population attributable fraction for HIV among key populations in each study setting, incorporating differential risks of onward HIV transmission over multiple time horizons; and (4) Evaluate routinely collected program data to inform tailoring and adaptation of implementation strategies for delivery of HIV prevention and treatment with key populations in SSA. Cameroon, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa are used as exemplar countries given that there exists sufficient data, willing governments and existing research-practice partnerships, and they represent common HIV epidemic typologies in their respective regions of SSA.

Collaborative Partners: Enda-Santé; University of Johannesburg; Partners for Health & Development in Africa

Funding Source: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)