Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation of Nosocomial Infection among Healthcare Workers during Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in Sierra Leone

Jones-Konneh, Tracey Elizabeth Claire; Suda, Tomomi; Sasaki, Hiroyuki; Egawa, Shinichi

doi:10.1620/tjem.245.231

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 11 publications

(12 reference statements)

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“…The health workforce density was 2.2 per 10,000 population which was below WHO’s recommendation of 4.45 per 1000 [ 10 ]. A total of 221 healthcare workers (HCWs) died of EVD from the start of the outbreak on May 25, 2014 unto November 7, 2015 [ 11 ]. The understaffed healthcare system was further weakened, adding extra burden on the HCWs which led to increased exhaustion and fatal mistakes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of health systems reform on COVID-19 control in Sierra Leone: a case study

Jones-Konneh,

Kaikai,

Bah

et al. 2023

Trop Med Health

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Background There are various impacts of COVID-19 on health systems of the world. The health systems of low- and middle-income countries are less developed. Therefore, they have greater tendencies to experience challenges and vulnerabilities in COVID-19 control compared to high-income countries. It is important to contain the spread of the virus, and likewise strengthen the capacity of health systems in order for the response to be effective and swift. The experience from 2014 to 2016 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone served as preparation for COVID-19 outbreak. The aim of this study is to determine how control of COVID-19 outbreak in Sierra Leone was enhanced by the lessons learned from 2014 to 2016 Ebola outbreak, and health systems reform. Methods We used data from a qualitative case study conducted in four districts in Sierra Leone through key informant interviews, focus group discussions, document, and archive record reviews. A total of 32 key informant interviews and 14 focus group discussions were conducted. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the data, and all transcripts were coded and analyzed with the aid of ATLAS.ti 9 software program. Results The six themes obtained were composed of categories that connect with each other and with codes to form networks. The analysis of the responses demonstrated that “Multisectoral Leadership and Cooperation”, “Government Collaboration among International Partners”, and “Awareness in the Community” were among the key interventions used during the control of 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease outbreak, which were applied in the control of COVID-19. An infectious disease outbreak control model was proposed based on the results obtained from the analysis of the lessons learned during the Ebola virus disease outbreak, and health systems reform. Conclusions “Multisectoral Leadership and Cooperation”, “Government Collaboration among International Partners” and “Awareness in the Community” are key strategies that enhanced the control of the COVID-19 outbreak in Sierra Leone. It is recommended that they are implemented in controlling COVID-19 pandemic or any other infectious disease outbreak. The proposed model can be used in controlling infectious disease outbreaks, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Further research is needed to validate the usefulness of these interventions in overcoming an infectious disease outbreak.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of health systems reform on COVID-19 control in Sierra Leone: a case study

Jones-Konneh,

Kaikai,

Bah

et al. 2023

Trop Med Health

Self Cite

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“…In the education module, HCWs are separated into several types according to their academic certificate and their willingness to work. The arrows in Fig 3 represent the possible transitions and their shifting mechanism follows the rules presented in the earlier study [ 36 ]. We mainly focus on the pre-deployment training which prepared for HCW in the Ebola affected area.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A hybrid simulation model to study the impact of combined interventions on Ebola epidemic

2021

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Pandemics have been recognized as a serious global threat to humanity. To effectively prevent the spread and outbreak of the epidemic disease, theoretical models intended to depict the disease dynamics have served as the main tools to understand its underlying mechanisms and thus interrupt its transmission. Two commonly-used models are mean-field compartmental models and agent-based models (ABM). The former ones are analytically tractable for describing the dynamics of subpopulations by cannot explicitly consider the details of individual movements. The latter one is mainly used to the spread of epidemics at a microscopic level but have limited simulation scale for the randomness of the results. To overcome current limitations, a hierarchical hybrid modeling and simulation method, combining mean-field compartmental model and ABM, is proposed in this paper. Based on this method, we build a hybrid model, which takes both individual heterogeneity and the dynamics of sub-populations into account. The proposed model also investigates the impact of combined interventions (i. e. vaccination and pre-deployment training) for healthcare workers (HCWs) on the spread of disease. Taking the case of 2014-2015 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Sierra Leone as an example, we examine its spreading mechanism and evaluate the effect of prevention by our parameterized and validated hybrid model. According to our simulation results, an optimal combination of pre-job training and vaccination deployment strategy has been identified. To conclude, our hybrid model helps informing the synergistic disease control strategies and the corresponding hierarchical hybrid modeling and simulation method can further be used to understand the individual dynamics during epidemic spreading in large scale population and help inform disease control strategies for different infectious disease.

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“…Jones-Konneh et al (2017) reviewed the trend of new patients and deaths by Ebola virus disease (EVD) and the countermeasures of affected Sierra Leone, suggesting the importance of intensive education to comply with the infection control and prevention. Jones-Konneh et al (2018) further extrapolated this notion to an agent-based simulation model of healthcare workers' attitude and found that seeking training at the time of outbreak and appropriate care procedure have a greater effect on reducing the number of health care workers infected during EVD outbreak, while initial education alone cannot prevent nosocomial infection. Saitoh et al (2015) recalled the awareness of leptospirosis as a re-emerging zoonosis, that might appear with higher prevalence when flood occurs through the report of four cases.…”

Section: Articles Related With Geje In Tjem After 2011mentioning

confidence: 99%

Progress of Disaster Medicine during Ten Years after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake

Egawa

2021

Tohoku J. Exp. Med.

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The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) has renewed the paradigm of disaster medicine. The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine (TJEM) widened its scope to include the disaster science from the health perspectives. TJEM has been accumulating 76 articles related with "disaster" or "pandemic" out of which 69 were published after 2011. Tohoku University established the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) that took initiative to impact the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework) to include health aspect. Sendai Framework provided the platform for collaboration of different sectors, including the terminology that defines the concept of disaster, risk, hazard & exposure, vulnerability and coping capacity. Disaster medicine covers the diverse causes and damages of disasters by various hazards in this globalized and rapidly changing world. TJEM articles range the physical and mental health damage after the GEJE and other disasters with approved ethical consideration of investigations from the view point of affected area, mechanisms of hazard to affect human health including the radiation, virus or hazardous materials, proposal of refinement of health system to cope with disasters such as mental health support, risk communication, disaster medical coordination and hospital business continuity plan and future perspectives with reconstruction including Tohoku Medical Megabank Project. TJEM scope on disaster medicine had been widened during the 10 years after GEJE and IRIDeS can be the bridging hub not only between the health sector and other sectors, but also between disaster medicine and other medical disciplines.

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Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation of Nosocomial Infection among Healthcare Workers during Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in Sierra Leone

Cited by 6 publications

References 11 publications

Impact of health systems reform on COVID-19 control in Sierra Leone: a case study

Impact of health systems reform on COVID-19 control in Sierra Leone: a case study

A hybrid simulation model to study the impact of combined interventions on Ebola epidemic

Progress of Disaster Medicine during Ten Years after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake

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