Five-year project aimed at ensuring vulnerable and at-risk populations are included in disease outbreak management and policies

TORONTO, Sept. 7, 2022 – At a time when the risk of emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases (ERIDs) is increasing, an international team led by 91��ɫ successfully competed to receive a CAD7.25 million grant from the  (IDRC) to help tackle the issue. This grant will enable the research team to work alongside countries in the Global South to develop equitable and responsible artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and big data approaches to improve public health outcomes.

The five-year project, Global South Artificial Intelligence for Pandemic and Epidemic Preparedness and Response Network, is borne out of the promise of AI solutions across the Global South to improve the health system response to infectious disease outbreaks, and the commensurate need to examine important ethical, legal and social implications of these solutions on populations most susceptible to disease and compromised overall well-being.

Led by 91��ɫ Assistant Professor  of the Faculty of Science, this project will support prevention, early detection, preparedness, mitigation and control of emerging or re-emerging infectious disease outbreaks in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa.

"91��ɫ is honoured to have this opportunity to create positive change by fostering more equitable and responsible approaches to complex health-care needs through the ethical use of artificial intelligence,” says 91��ɫ President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton. “This project will help us strengthen our impact on several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including good health and well-being, as well as gender equality and partnerships. I'd like to thank IDRC for their ongoing support of 91��ɫ's commitment to collaboratively addressing pressing global issues and congratulate Jude Kong on all his work in this area."

Globally, as humans continue to encroach on animal habitats and climate change worsens, incidents of disease outbreaks are expected to increase in severity and frequency – often stemming from viruses, bacteria and parasites that jump from animals to people. These outbreaks can have calamitous consequences which cascade across socio-economic boundaries, particularly affecting vulnerable populations, magnifying social inequities, and putting pressure on weak health-care systems, which further exacerbate underlying inequities and disparities.

“As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside outbreaks such as Ebola and hMPXV, previously known as monkeypox, IDRC’s commitment to supporting innovative and locally championed solutions from LMICs is renewed and further deepened," says IDRC President Jean Lebel. "We are delighted to build on IDRC’s deep experience in using AI to solve pressing social and economic challenges by supporting the team at 91��ɫ in funding thought leaders in the LMICs to develop, use and scale responsible AI solutions to strengthen health systems. This collaborative effort will foreground AI applications that are ethical, respect privacy, and support gender equality and inclusive benefits across low-resource settings.”

The project will develop a diverse, multi-regional and interdisciplinary network of partners and teams to help address gaps in knowledge, capacities and solutions, and better understand how AI can improve public health preparedness and response. It will promote southern-led equitable and ethical use of AI and big data to improve public health preparedness and response, identify risks, conduct predictive modelling and provide evidence-based recommendations for public health policy and action.

"It is important to design, manage and govern AI and big data approaches using a health-equity and gender-equality lens to avoid amplifying existing inequalities leading to the possibility of significant harm rather than tremendous benefits," says Kong, the project’s executive director and director of the Africa-Canada Artificial Intelligence and  Data Innovation Consortium (ACADIC).

The goal is to ensure vulnerable and at-risk populations are included in disease outbreak management and policies, including racialized visible minorities, women, geographically isolated individuals, Indigenous communities, migrants and refugees, unhoused people and the socio-economically underserved. COVID-19 has underlined the need for timely, accurate, and reliable data to inform evidence-based public health decision-making.

"AI techniques have developed rapidly over the last decade and the ability to store large data sets has led to novel methods of analysis, allowing for modelling predictions on a scale that was previously not possible,” says Kong. "ERIDs present global challenges, and as such, international communication and shared strategies, which build on varying types of expertise, are required to successfully address them. This project is a small step in that direction."

PHOTOS: Jude Kong – horizontal & vertical

VIDEOS: Building capacity to tackle emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases in the Global South - Project will build a network and use AI and big data to fight against infectious diseases - 

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91��ɫ is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change and prepare our students for success. 91��ɫ's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91��ɫ’s campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future. 

As part of Canada’s foreign affairs and development efforts, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) champions and funds research and innovation within and alongside developing regions to drive global change. We invest in high-quality research in developing countries, share knowledge with researchers and policymakers for greater uptake and use, and mobilize our global alliances to build a more sustainable and inclusive world.

Media Contacts:

Sandra McLean, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416-272-6317, sandramc@yorku.ca

Steven Morris, IDRC Media Relations, 613-696-2011, smorris@idrc.ca

The post 91��ɫ receives $7.25M to build network and use AI and big data in fight against infectious diseases appeared first on News@91��ɫ.

TORONTO, Aug. 24, 2022 – Lower-to-middle-income countries still struggle with high unemployment rates after COVID-19 lockdowns and economic restrictions, unlike higher-income countries such as Canada, finds a new study led by 91��ɫ with the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

This is opposite from the 2008-2009 global economic crisis when higher-income countries suffered more from the recession than lower-income countries.

The study used Twitter sentiments to help compare macroeconomic factors including unemployment and inflation across Nigeria, South Africa and Canada representing lower-middle, upper-middle and high-income countries respectively.

They found the unemployment rate increased for all three countries at the beginning of the pandemic, however, Canada was able to control the rate after the first couple of months unlike Nigeria and South Africa, where they continue to struggle with high unemployment.

“This indicates how vulnerable lower-middle income countries are to lockdowns and economic limitations, bearing a greater loss during the COVID-19 pandemic than higher income countries,” says 91��ɫ Assistant Professor , the study’s corresponding author and director of the Africa-Canada AI & Data Innovation Consortium (ACADIC).

Before COVID-19, lockdowns and economic restrictions, Nigeria’s unemployment rate was lower than South Africa’s, while the inflation rate of South Africa was lower than Nigeria. During the pandemic, however, unemployment and inflation rates in Nigeria have increased more than Canada and South Africa.

Now the inflation rate is increasing in all three, especially in Canada and Nigeria, which has experienced both high unemployment and high inflation throughout the pandemic.

“The COVID-19 crisis has affected all income country groups. The burden, however, is much heavier on lower income classes. Coming back from this complexity will be difficult, especially for middle-income countries,” says study co-author Professor , member of the Gauteng Premier COVID-19 Advisory Committee in charge of modelling from the University of Witwatersrand and iThemba LABS in South Africa and co-president of ACADIC. Gauteng is the most populous province in South Africa and hosts Johannesburg and Pretoria.

“The management of the COVID-19 pandemic taught us about the importance of data to enact evidence-based decisions. The way policymakers view data has changed greatly as a result. We are looking forward to the use of more data in dealing with societal problems,” says Mduduzi Mbada, acting director general of the Gauteng Province.

Although South Africa’s inflation rate is still comparable to pre-pandemic levels, any policies put in place to deal with high unemployment are expected to increase the inflation rate. Canada's unemployment rate remains good, but it is now seeing it is highest inflation rate in the last 15 years, which may have been brought on in part by the decision to provide the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and Employment Insurance to the employees who lost their jobs because of COVID-19.

Part of what makes this study unique is the authors use of different machine learning algorithms to estimate the monthly unemployment rates for Nigeria and South Africa using unconventional data such as Twitter sentiment and Google Trends data. Monthly inflation data was available for all three countries, but not monthly unemployment data for South Africa and Nigeria.

Social media and social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Reddit, are filled with real-time information, which is stored electronically and often accessible.

“They are well-posed to revolutionize the manner and the speed at which especially difficult to get infectious disease data is made available,” says Kong. “Data used to inform infectious disease models usually comes from classical surveillance systems, but they suffer from several shortcomings, including severe time lags and a lack of spatial resolution. They are also costly.”

Data from country-specific Twitter can be used to better understand concerns and sentiments around the macroeconomic situations at the local level – potentially leading to more targeted and publicly acceptable policies based on social media content.

“Social media can also provide data on behaviours and outcomes related to vaccine or drug use, including drug-related adverse events, complementing conventional vaccine and pharmaco-vigilance approaches, in which the tracking of vaccine- and drug-related adverse events mainly relies on passive reporting by physicians,” says Mellado.

Their richness in text-based data in the form of posts and comments allows researchers to identify popular topics and assess public sentiment. This can help inform decision-makers and policymakers and allow for a better understanding of concerns and worries about macroeconomics at the local level.

The paper, , was published today in the journal PLOS ONE.

The study is part of the , a multidisciplinary, multi-organization initiative, with funding from Canada’s  and the , and with project support from ,  and .

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91��ɫ is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change and prepare our students for success. 91��ɫ's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91��ɫ’s campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future. 

Media Contact:Sandra McLean, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416-272-6317, sandramc@yorku.ca

The post Twitter shows lower-to-middle income countries have higher unemployment post pandemic appeared first on News@91��ɫ.

TORONTO, Aug. 11, 2021 – With a scarcity of COVID-19 vaccines in many African countries and the rise of new variants of concern, a collaboration led by 91��ɫ is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data to define public health policies and interventions to contain and manage the spread of the virus in Africa.

The Africa-Canada Artificial Intelligence and Data Innovation Consortium (ACADIC) is playing a pivotal role in providing locally nuanced analysis of data to inform public health decision making, as well as vaccination rollout strategies.

ACADIC brings together an interdisciplinary team of data scientists, epidemiologists, physicists, mathematicians and software engineers, as well as artificial intelligence, disaster and emergency management, clinical public health, citizen science, and community engagement experts. It is leveraging big data and AI-based techniques in nine African countries with experts from 11 different countries – Botswana, Cameroon, Canada, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

These techniques help identify and analyze emergent COVID-19 hotspots and outbreaks, and develop strategic, highly targeted and staged delivery plans for vaccines to priority areas. The team is also using ongoing monitoring to enhance COVID-19 testing to ensure public health interventions are equitable and effective.

Half of the world’s doses of vaccines have been secured by a handful of economically developed countries, but most African nations have received very few and continue to prepare and test their vaccination campaigns for when sufficient vaccine doses are made available.

A defining challenge is to develop local strategies that will reduce the number of COVID-19 cases even as variants of concern circulate amidst a dearth of vaccines.

Assistant Professor of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics in the Faculty of Science at 91��ɫ and the founding director of ACADIC can speak to the following:

• Making big data and artificial intelligence actionable for real-time delivery of reliable and comprehensive information to predict the spread and impact of an epidermic, and to guide governmental policies and best practice in an epidemic
• Obtaining locally relevant COVID-19 data in Africa
• The role of big data and artificial intelligence in understanding and intervening in pandemics
• Big data, artificial intelligence and COVID-19 in Africa
• The
• Vaccine acceptance/hesitancy across Africa
• Vaccination roll-out strategies in South Africa

Distinguished Research Professor , director of the Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics () in the Faculty of Science can discuss the following:

• Incorporating AI and mathematical modelling for smart vaccination rollout in vaccine limited regions
  • AI solution of vaccine-inequality: balancing the booster program in the North and prime series in the South for global recovery

Professor James Orbinski, director of Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, can talk about the following:

• Clinical Public Health practices in epidemics and pandemics
• Medical issues associated with COVID-19
• Intervention systems in disasters and health emergencies
• Disease dynamics and modelling

Associate Professor of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, and associate director of the (ADERSIM) can talk about the following:

• Transferring lessons learned from mass vaccination simulation to Africa
  • Disease modelling and simulation in refugee camps in Africa
  • Use of AI to model economic impacts of COVID-19 in Africa

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91��ɫ is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change and prepare our students for success. 91��ɫ's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91��ɫ’s campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

Media contact:

Sandra McLean, 91��ɫ Media Relations, cell 416-272-6317, sandramc@yorku.ca

The post How artificial intelligence and big data are fighting COVID-19 in Africa appeared first on News@91��ɫ.

TORONTO, February 8, 2017 - With access to more data than ever before, businesses are facing a serious shortage of big data experts and predictive analysts who know how to properly analyze it.  91��ɫ's School of Continuing Studies is pioneering a unique solution to this challenge.

91��ɫ has launched two new certificates, the Certificate in Big Data Analytics and the Certificate in Advanced Data Science and Predictive Analytics that will prepare graduates to enter this growing job market in just six months.

"Employers tell us that there is, and will continue to be, a significant shortage of qualified data analytics professionals. Our Certificates will quickly produce graduates with comprehensive expertise in the field without requiring working students to be out of the office," says Tracey Taylor-O'Reilly, 91��ɫ's assistant vice-president, continuing studies.

Roland Merbis, Director of Customer Insights & Analytics at Scotiabank. (CNW Group/91��ɫ)

Representing one of the largest talent shortages in Canada, big data opportunities are exploding in every sector from marketing to financial services to professional sports. The Greater Toronto Area is at the epi-centre of this talent gap. Employers frequently report that they cannot find qualified candidates and are heavily investing in re-training their workforce.  In 2016, more than 60% of Canadian executives reportedly planned to add professionals trained in big data analysis and business intelligence to their teams. Researchers estimate that 150,000 data analytics professionals are needed to fill roles in Canada. The demand will continue to grow with open access to data sets, the introduction of new big data software applications, and the increased applicability of big data to new market segments.

Together, the Certificates provide a comprehensive education in contemporary data analytics through online coursework and bi-weekly evening computer labs using the leading software applications with which many employers require familiarity.

The Certificate in Big Data Analytics provides a foundational overview of the field, focusing on how to use the data to identify opportunities and solutions to organizational challenges. This Certificate will benefit those who are new to the field along with specialists in other fields (such as marketing, insurance, finance, human resources, and policy) who want to confidently leverage big data to excel in their sector.

The Certificate in Advanced Data Science and Predictive Analytics will build on foundational knowledge to prepare graduates to take on Data Analyst or Business Analyst roles and to pursue the Certified Analytics Professional (CAP®) designation, the premier global professional certification for analytics practitioners.

"Today more than ever, analytics play a crucial role in creating a positive customer experience," says Roland Merbis, Director of Customer Insights & Analytics at Scotiabank. "As a member of the program's advisory council, I look forward to working with 91��ɫ to help establish an analytics program that will set students up for success and close the skills gap for employers."

The School of Continuing Studies at 91��ɫ offers professional education certificates, English academic preparation and a degree pathway for mature, working students.

91��ɫ is helping to shape the global thinkers and thinking that will define tomorrow. 91��ɫ U's unwavering commitment to excellence reflects a rich diversity of perspectives and a strong sense of social responsibility that sets us apart. A 91��ɫU degree empowers graduates to thrive in the world and achieve their life goals through a rigorous academic foundation balanced by real-world experiential education. As a globally recognized research centre, 91��ɫ U is fully engaged in the critical discussions that lead to innovative solutions to the most pressing local and global social challenges. 91��ɫ U's 11 faculties and 25 research centres are thinking bigger, broader and more globally, partnering with 280 leading universities worldwide. 91��ɫ U's community is strong− 55,000 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, and more than 275,000 alumni.

The CAP® designation is offered through the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), the largest society in the world for professionals in the field of operations research (O.R.), management science, and analytics. If you are interested in pursuing the CAP® designation, see the INFORMS (visit  for full details.)

Roland Merbis is Director of Customer Insights & Analytics at Scotiabank, where he works with various business lines across the Bank, helping their decision-making capabilities by providing customer-centric strategic analytics. Roland has close to 20 years' experience in the customer insights profession.

Media Contacts:
Christine Brooks-Cappadocia, School of Continuing Studies, 91��ɫ, 416-736-5449, cbc@yorku.ca

Sandra McLean, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 22097, sandramc@yorku.ca

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