Strategies
Strategies for implementing recommendations proposed by experts through Smarter Crowdsourcing conferences
The outcomes of this project are a set of 18 recommendations developed with the support of global experts. These recommendations are designed for government officials to aid them as they address the COVID-19 pandemic. Each recommendation is supported by a set of strategiesto achieve that recommendation. Strategies in turn detail actions and global examples that guide governments of the specific steps needed for implementing the strategy. Each strategy is a means to achieve a specific recommendation. You can explore individual strategies by searching by keywords, audience, type of strategy, and timeline.
Strategies
TOTAL NUMBER OF STRATEGIES IN THE REPOSITORY: 73
FILTERED STRATEGIES: 73
STRATEGY
Topic
RECOMMENDATION
Partner with academic institutions,researchers and private sector laboratories. Governments should engage the academy,research firms,and private sector laboratories to develop algorithms,testing strategies,and innovative ways to design pooled testing schemes.
Testing Strategy
Pooled Testing
Waive regulatory barriers. Governments should consider ways to adjust regulations that restrict innovation pertaining to pooled testing schemes.
Testing Strategy
Pooled Testing
Rapidly pilot pooled testing schemes. Governments should act quickly (<1 month) to pilot various pooled testing schemes such as Dorfman,Splitting,Sterret,and Matrix testing to gauge scalability and utility amongst different contexts and populations.
Testing Strategy
Pooled Testing
Iterate learning and share best practices. Governments should contract with or perform their own evaluation of pooled testing schemes,improve on existing processes,and share best practices across jurisdictions and sectors.
Testing Strategy
Pooled Testing
Conduct feasibility studies. Governments should appoint a group of government and external experts to conduct a feasibility study of jurisdictional and private/public context and document legislative opportunities or barriers to moving forward with a UHI/NPI system.
Testing Strategy
National Patient Identifiers
Standardize data entry fields across existing systems. Governments should work with partners to standardize data elements across health IT systems so that data is easily shareable between systems.
Testing Strategy
National Patient Identifiers
Develop,advocate for and pass legislation. Governments should mandate adoption of standards providing for a standard national health identifier for each individual,employer,health plan,and health care provider for use in the healthcare system.
Testing Strategy
National Patient Identifiers
Adjust existing data collection processes. Governments should advance the use of regularly collected demographic data elements for patient matching and identification such as phone numbers,mailing addresses,or email addresses. This will ensure that public health authorities have up-to-date contact information when receiving reports from laboratories,hospitals,and other testing sites.
Testing Strategy
National Patient Identifiers
Establish a single organization to manage and oversee the UHI/NPI system. Governments should establish a single organization with the responsibility to oversee and advise on ways to improve patient matching and incorporate new technologies and approaches as they emerge. This organization would identify and encourage adoption of certain standards—such as on biometrics or use of smartphones—by health care organizations and technology developers.
Testing Strategy
National Patient Identifiers
Implement a UHI/NPI system. Governments should roll out a comprehensive and single UHI/NPI system that integrates,delivers,and manages health information technology systems across all health care institutions,including the ability for individuals to access and control their own health records.
Testing Strategy
National Patient Identifiers
Define high-risk populations who will receive prioritized testing. Governments should develop a working definition of which populations are high risk. Groups can be added to this list,but the list should identify populations that are at higher risk of contracting and having complications from COVID-19 due to physical health,behavioral health,or economic/social factors.
Testing Strategy
High-risk populations
Partner with community and cultural leaders. Governments should conduct specific outreach and form partnerships with community and cultural leaders to 1) understand needs and concerns of specific communities and 2) amplify public health messaging encouraging surveillance,diagnostic,and screening testing.
Testing Strategy
High-risk populations
Make testing free for low income or high-risk populations. Governments should reduce barriers to testing by making testing free for specific populations,ideally for screening or surveillance purposes.
Testing Strategy
High-risk populations
Develop and use culturally and contextually relevant communication materials for testing resources. Governments and public health officials should make all communication materials targeted at high-risk or vulnerable populations accessible and culturally-relevant.
Testing Strategy
High-risk populations
Rapidly conduct snapshot pooled testing among staff and residents in health and long-term care facilities,prisons,and other congregate housing facilities. Governments should conduct snapshot pooled testing to provide a baseline that will help establish subsequent testing strategies within these settings,including the frequency of testing.
Testing Strategy
High-risk populations
Ensure adequate testing resources are available and accessible to high-risk communities. Governments should establish testing sites in communities with large numbers of high-risk individuals.
Testing Strategy
High-risk populations
Reduce barriers to testing by conducting mobile testing units. To address transportation limitations,non-traditional work schedules,and lack of access that may keep some communities from getting tested,governments should strategically implement mobile testing units that travel to vulnerable communities.
Testing Strategy
High-risk populations
Make raw data available to researchers,public health professionals and epidemiologists. Governments should make disaggregated and,where appropriate,raw data available for modeling and epidemiological analysis. Sharing key process and outcome data with demographic and geographic identifiers allows researchers and public health officials to better predict and respond to the spread of the virus and emerging outbreaks.
Contact Tracing
Metrics
Incentivize adoption of standardized process and outcome measures within jurisdictions (vertical standardization) and across jurisdictions (horizontal standardization) through technical assistance and cost reimbursements or cost sharing. Governments should use legislative,regulatory,and budgetary means to incentivize and/or mandate the adoption of standardized metrics across jurisdictions.
Contact Tracing
Metrics
Create and publish data dashboards that are updated regularly and show progress on metrics. Governments should develop a dashboard aligned with both the contact tracing platform and surveillance/reportable disease databases.
Contact Tracing
Metrics
Commit to carefully selected metrics that can be reported on consistently and regularly (do not select too many metrics). Governments should be cautious to select a small number of useful and informative metrics that can be reported on consistently,precisely,and accurately. Committing to too many metrics may lead to the inability to accurately and precisely track the data.
Contact Tracing
Metrics
Collaborate with private and public-sector actors that have large membership across jurisdictions. Governments should actively seek partnerships with businesses and organizations (e.g. unions) that have large numbers of employees or members based in various regions/states within the country. These businesses and organizations may be able to support interjurisdictional coordination.
Contact Tracing
Interjurisdictional Coordination
Use executive orders or other regulatory or legislative authorities to incentivize centralized platforms for contact tracing. Governments,ideally at the federal level,should mandate a single platform for contact tracing. If it is not possible at the federal level,governors of states/regions should mandate the use of a single platform within their jurisdiction.
Contact Tracing
Interjurisdictional Coordination
Use legislative or regulatory mechanisms or executive orders to enable data sharing across jurisdictions. Governments should reduce the regulatory burdens that hinder or inhibit data sharing between jurisdictions.
Contact Tracing
Interjurisdictional Coordination
Use legislative or regulatory mechanisms or executive orders to enable agencies to share existing databases. Governments should capitalize on existing databases or registers maintained by specific government agencies (such as social security,post service,or census data) to bolster contact tracing efforts.
Contact Tracing
Interjurisdictional Coordination
Move towards a centralized communicable and reportable disease database and contact tracing capability. Governments should begin to invest in a federally centralized communicable and reportable disease database that will include contact tracing capabilities.
Contact Tracing
Interjurisdictional Coordination
Offer informal peer learning opportunities. Governments or representative associations should coordinate informal forums or opportunities for individuals designing,implementing,and managing contact tracing programs to share ideas,challenges and best practices. These opportunities should be extended to include researchers,epidemiologists,or non-governmental actors with contact tracking experience.
Contact Tracing
Interjurisdictional Coordination
Offer formal peer learning opportunities. governments or representative associations should coordinate formal and structured forums or opportunities for those designing,implementing,and managing contact tracing programs to share ideas,challenges and best practices.
Contact Tracing
Interjurisdictional Coordination
Create regional partnerships and coordinating bodies. Governments or representative associations should establish formal and informal groups and coordinating bodies based on regional or geographic similarities,such as transportation corridors or shared geographic borders.
Contact Tracing
Interjurisdictional Coordination
Conduct a community health assessment that identifies community assets. Public health agencies responsible for conducting contact tracing should conduct an assessment of community organizations and assets that can be mobilized to support the contact tracing effort.
Contact Tracing
Localization
Partner with local community organizations to recruit and hire contact tracers with community-based knowledge and experience. Governments should partner with local community organizations to identify contact tracers with the trust and knowledge of the local community. Selecting the right messenger is an important step to building trust,allowing for the cases and contacts to reveal details about who they have been in contact with and when.
Contact Tracing
Localization
Conduct a public health messaging campaign explaining contact tracing. Governments should perform outreach to the public with messages about contact tracing before and while they implement telephone and in-person interviews and contact tracing. This will help the public understand why they are being contacted and what the goal of these efforts are.
Contact Tracing
Localization
Incorporate communication about contact tracing into the testing program. Testing centers should inform those who are tested that they will be contacted by someone from the contact tracing program if they test positive. The testing site should provide the name of the contact tracing program and the phone number from which people will receive a call.
Contact Tracing
Localization
Incorporate information about the local community when training people for the contact tracing program. Governments and those designing contact tracing training programs should include specific modules that focus on the local community context,cultural practices,language considerations,and other specific considerations. The training program should also include information about how to conduct contact tracing,the workforce needs information about the local public health system,how it is organized and how it interacts with other agencies.
Contact Tracing
Localization
Review data collection processes and ensure all data systems adequately collect disaggregated data differentiating vulnerable populations.
Supporting Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations
Improve Data Management
Build coalitions with “trust brokers” (e.g. NGOs,Civil Society Organizations,and community leaders) and affected populations to co-design data collection,analysis and use processes
Supporting Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations
Improve Data Management
Collect disaggregated data at strategic locations and service delivery touchpoints.
Supporting Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations
Improve Data Management
Strengthen government capacity to interpret new and existing data,focusing on vulnerable populations and publish data and analysis publicly.
Supporting Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations
Improve Data Management
Establish and coordinate a committee of stakeholders whose businesses,non-profits,and foundations directly serve or impact vulnerable populations to identify and address the needs of vulnerable populations.
Supporting Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations
Establish Public-Private Partnerships
Develop partnerships and engage in strategic contracts with companies who have comparative advantages or corners on specific markets like housing,transportation,diagnostic testing,and/or technology services.
Supporting Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations
Establish Public-Private Partnerships
Create a public commission,specifically including intended beneficiaries of the services,tasked with holding public-private partnership contracts accountable for delivering services/results through a cost effective,timely,and transparent process.
Supporting Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations
Establish Public-Private Partnerships
Partner with private sector firms to help them meet their human resource needs by developing and implementing retraining and reskillIng programs that help vulnerable groups adapt to the new- normal post- COVID- 19.
Supporting Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations
Establish Public-Private Partnerships
Work with local community leaders to tailor policy decisions to the needs of the community.
Supporting Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations
Engage the Public and Civil Society Organizations
Partner with,fund,and support women and their families,women-owned businesses,and grassroots organizations specifically serving women.
Supporting Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations
Engage the Public and Civil Society Organizations
Detect,support and amplify existing community-led initiatives and solutions.
Supporting Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations
Engage the Public and Civil Society Organizations
Crowdsource solutions and expertise from the public and affected populations through prizes,competitions,or online innovation sessions.
Supporting Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations
Engage the Public and Civil Society Organizations
Collect epidemiological surveillance data with a symptom tracker or triage tool that leverages crowdsourcing and participatory surveillance.
Epidemiological monitoring and surveillance
Enhance Data Collection
Invest in and promote the use of technological and digital innovations that can help collect accurate and timely data.
Epidemiological monitoring and surveillance
Enhance Data Collection
Partner with institutions with high levels of social engagement,trust,and access to populations to collect information and implement public health monitoring and surveillance systems.
Epidemiological monitoring and surveillance
Enhance Data Collection
Develop standard definitions,structures,and variables for key public health monitoring and surveillance health data.
Epidemiological monitoring and surveillance
Improve Information Infrastructure
Promote and use open source and simple tools for data sharing between and among stakeholders.
Epidemiological monitoring and surveillance
Improve Information Infrastructure
Develop and advocate for a legislative framework for public health monitoring and surveillance health data.
Epidemiological monitoring and surveillance
Improve Information Infrastructure
Increase government capacity to use public health monitoring and surveillance data by training government workers in data science and partnering with data scientists.
Epidemiological monitoring and surveillance
Increase Government Capacity
Develop,use,and refine multiple predictive models to help with pandemic planning,preparedness,and response.
Epidemiological monitoring and surveillance
Increase Government Capacity
Create a COVID-19 “war room”,emergency operation center,or nerve center that centralizes data and decision making.
Epidemiological monitoring and surveillance
Increase Government Capacity
Create a legal framework to regulate and fund mental health priorities
Mental health and emotional wellbeing
Government capacity and regulatory environment
Create a national mental health plan to guide the implementation of the resulting legislation and regulations
Mental health and emotional wellbeing
Government capacity and regulatory environment
Promote public policies and interventions that prioritize mental health services for healthcare workers and frontline personnel
Mental health and emotional wellbeing
Government capacity and regulatory environment
Use technology to bridge access gaps and reach individuals who cannot access treatment due to cost,location,language,or other barriers.
Mental health and emotional wellbeing
Data and Technology
Improve mental health data collection and use through technologies
Mental health and emotional wellbeing
Data and Technology
Use technology to train community health workers and other healthcare providers who may have no experience in mental healthcare and mental first aid
Mental health and emotional wellbeing
Increase provider capacity
Engage cross-sectoral partners to utilize available mental health resources and increase the supply of providers
Mental health and emotional wellbeing
Increase provider capacity
Governments should keep messaging consistent and explain changes when they are made.
Behavioral Science and COVID
Evidence and misinformation
Governments and policy makers should make sure the messages they are promoting are scientifically accurate and informed by evidence and base all messaging on credible levels of evidence and review levels of evidence. The public is more likely to trust messages coming from credible sources
Behavioral Science and COVID
Evidence and misinformation
Governments should track rumors and misinformation campaigns to ensure that communities are not acting on incorrect public health guidance.
Behavioral Science and COVID
Evidence and misinformation
National and state governments should work with local governments,universities,companies and community activists to focus on making differences at the local and community level. Where possible,messaging should be targeted to specific populations and groups to ensure it is relevant and resonates with those individuals.
Behavioral Science and COVID
Community and stakeholder engagement
Engage the public and/or targeted groups in the design and development of public health messaging strategies. Ensure a transparent process of content development to increase trust with the public.
Behavioral Science and COVID
Community and stakeholder engagement
Write and publish template pledges that businesses can adapt for their own needs. Include evidence based safety measures and encourage businesses to bring these pledges to discussion with their employees.
Behavioral Science and COVID
Community and stakeholder engagement
Governments should enlist influencers like athletes,celebrities,or trusted politicians to deliver key messages to the broader public. Who is an influencer in a given community can be determined using sentiment analysis techniques that analyze who follows whom on Twitter.
Behavioral Science and COVID
Community and stakeholder engagement
Governments should develop strategies for testing different messages and delivery methods to understand what is the best combination to deliver specific messages to specific groups.
Behavioral Science and COVID
Data and innovation
Governments should understand the preferences of their constituencies and use tools that populations are most comfortable with. For example,live streams on social media platforms like facebook- which people use regularly and have fewer barriers to access-- tend to be more popular then webinars or conversations on platforms like Zoom or WebEx.
Behavioral Science and COVID
Data and innovation
Governments should capitalize on local knowledge and talent through hackathons and other contests that bring together problem solvers from civil society to create innovative solutions to specific challenges.
Behavioral Science and COVID
Data and innovation
Governments should analyze what physical barriers make it more difficult or increase the perceived effort of following preferred behaviors,and minimize or remove these barriers. The fewer steps and the less thought a preferred behavior requires,the more likely people are to follow it.
Behavioral Science and COVID
Data and innovation
