The road to data-driven public health emergency response in the overseas territory of Puerto Rico

ABSTRACT

Lingering economic troubles, natural disasters, and governmental instability placed Puerto Rico in uncertainty upon the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the lack of data and urgency to establish public health strategies, young scientists in Puerto Rico developed an epidemiological and health informatics system to collect, analyze, and monitor data in real time. The work done by the interdisciplinary team resulted in real-time decisions for public health policy as insights were gleaned about the dynamics of COVID-19 propagation. In this chapter, the authors describe an eight-month project which includes a structural assessment, information flow optimization, systemic expansion and enforcement, and data-driven decision-making enhancements to health informatics systems built in Puerto Rico as a model for global health systems. © 2023, IGI Global.