Infectious Disease Modelling and Analytics for Pandemic Preparedness: A focus on Latin America (IDMAPP-LATAM)

Motivation

Outbreaks of infectious disease pose a substantial threat to the regular functioning of society. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Pandemic and Resilience for Emerging Threats initiative calls for the formulation of future pandemic preparedness strategies underpinned by learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic, including a judicious use of advanced analytics. Strong regional collaborations and a deep understanding of local contexts are essential to inform such preparedness strategies.

Within the Latin American region, rich biodiversity underpinned by constant interaction between human, animals and the environment, creates a unique ecosystem through which infectious diseases can propagate. A substantial component of the infectious diseases threat is posed by arboviruses. Whilst this includes well-researched and prevalent pathogens such as dengue, yellow fever, chikingunya, and Zika, there are lesser-known re-emerging viruses that also pose substantial risks in the region, such as the Oropouche virus. Further to this, the region of the Americas is also a known high-risk area for emerging respiratory pandemic viruses including H5N1 avian influenza, and was also affected by the global outbreak of mpox Clade II in 2022 – 2023.

Together, this evidence highlights an urgent need for cross-border, cross-sectorial collaborations and boosting local capacity in epidemiological modelling analytics throughout the Latin America region.

A collaborative effort

The MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London (MRC-GIDA), Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), and the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science (LCDS) have joined efforts to bring together public health practitioners and researchers from leading academic and public health institutions across the region to provide a 10-day training programme on advanced analytics, including mathematical modelling techniques, for assessing the dynamics of infectious disease outbreaks and response strategies.

Aims

  • Strengthening capacity in the development and use of epidemiological models to address priority health threats in the region.
  • Promoting collaboration among epidemiologists, modelers, and policy makers.
  • Supporting operational research and preparedness strategies tailored to the Latin American context.
  • To support collaborative research and decision-making frameworks for epidemic response.
  • To foster a collaborative network of epidemiologists and mathematical modellers between participant institutions in Latin America, USFQ and MRC-GIDA.

Target participants

This short course is targeted towards public health practitioners and researchers who are:

Be sure to submit your application by 18th July, 2025!

  • Actively engaged in public health surveillance, outbreak response, or pandemic preparedness.
  • Have a demonstrated interest or experience in mathematical modelling or quantitative data analysis.
  • Have strong institutional ties to facilitate translation of modelling work into public health decision-making.

Short course format

Over the course of 10 days (see Schedule) we will have a combination of lectures, hands-on exercises, and group projects. The working language of the workshop will be English.

We will cover topics relevant to the modelling of infectious disease transmission, with a focus on emerging pathogens of pandemic potential, including those of vector-borne and airborne transmission.

We will begin by developing a basic intuition of the development and use of compartmental mathematical models, with topics such as:

  • Integrating epidemiological surveillance and modelling analytics
  • Designing and parameterising compartmental transmission models
  • Force of infection and reproduction number
  • Constant vs varying hazards and disease severity
  • Modelling and assessing the effect of public health interventions

Materials

The course materials have been developed in-house at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Imperial College London, and will be made available to attendees under the MIT license.

Acknowledgments and funding

Funding for this workshop is provided by MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Imperial College London and the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science (LCDS) (Leverhulme Research Centres Grant RC-2018-003).