MIT Solve

Solution & Team Overview

Solution name:

Unlocking NPIs as pandemic first line of defence

Short solution summary:

Our proposal encompasses protocols, research, policy, education and oversight that optimise the use of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) as pandemic first line of defence. This will build resilience for the next pandemic through lasting behavior change resulting from targeted and effective messaging, scientific consensus and a realignment of focus from cure to prevention.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team based?

Slough, UK

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Ms Patty O’Hayer, Global Head of External Communications & Government Affairs, Reckitt

Which Challenge Area does your solution most closely address?

Respond (Decrease transmission & spread), such as: Optimal preventive interventions & uptake maximization, Cutting through “infodemic” & enabling better response, Data-driven learnings for increased efficacy of interventions

What specific problem are you solving?

SARS-CoV-2 has caused over 138 million infections and nearly 3 million deaths[1]. It could cost $28 trillion in lost economic output by 2025[2]. With environmental stress fueling zoonotic disease spill over, more pandemics are likely.

Before the next pandemic’s treatments or vaccines emerge, NPIs will be on the front line. Yet systematic NPI evaluation is lacking. To tease out individual effects and optimal combinations, we need: a validated theory to describe the feedback loop between behaviours and disease; and global consensus around standardized research endpoints to enable a synthesis of efficacy of individual and combination NPIs across geographies and demographics.

We believe an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and sought to use data analysis to predict how NPIs might be optimized to contain future pandemics. This was the first time multiple NPIs were mandated globally: therefore, the economic value of large-scale NPI utilization is not yet established.

COVID-19 saw inconsistent public health messages that weakened public trust and allowed misinformation to spread, which sometimes derailed NPI compliance. Our solution looks to address these inconsistencies and help deliver effective messaging that will foment lasting behavior change that contributes to pandemic resiliency.

1) Worldmeter (as of 15-04-2021) ; 2) International Monetary Fund

Who does your solution serve, and what needs of theirs does it address?

Our proposal supports the development of NPI public health policy by governments, development partners, corporations and any other body trying to protect populations from future pandemics. It addresses this by recommending protocols, research, policy, education and oversight as part of a global response that values prevention and infection control above cure.

Global research standards will drive scientific consensus, while further study will build an evidence base, strengthening the argument for NPI use. Beefed-up biosecurity protocols will stop zoonotic diseases jumping to humans. Ongoing educational programs will position countries better for when acute interventions are needed, and greater oversight will enhance policy adoption.

Given how cost-effective we believe NPIs to be, our solution carries particular relevance for mid-to-low-income countries. Success will help prevent the next pandemic or mitigate its impact on public health, which benefits global society as a whole.

To understand the needs of various stakeholders we engaged an independent advisory board with expertise in pandemic prevention, health policy, communication, government, social impact and anthropology. We incorporated their opinions into our proposal. If successful, we will look to engage research partners that could include The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Emory University, Ashoka University, Wits Business School and Oxford Economics, and partner with EcoHealth Alliance to strengthen biosecurity protocols.

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Proof of Concept: A venture or organisation building and testing its prototype, research, product, service, or business/policy model, and has built preliminary evidence or data

More About Your Solution

Please select all the technologies currently used in your solution:

Big Data
Crowd Sourced Service / Social Networks

What “public good” does your solution provide?

Reckitt’s solution provides public good in the form of recommendations to optimize NPI protocols, research, policy, education and oversight.

Our recommendations will help build data for the development of robust NPI standards, policies and guidelines and ultimately development of an open-source NPIIC model. The data will inform decision making that directly impacts public health. Greater NPI evidence-based decision making will help mitigate the next pandemic’s impact on public health, plus social and economic indicators. This could lead to the development of a Health Index and clear cost-benefit analysis which should help incentivise governments to adopt preventive NPI measures.

The adoption of ongoing national hygiene education curriculums and community engagement programmes based on behaviour change research will build knowledge in the community and put countries into stronger positions for when future NPI interventions are needed.

Greater oversight and governance will empower decision makers with adaptive tools to maximise the impact of public health messaging, whilst providing the ability to identify and counter fake news.

Finally, our solution will build global pandemic resilience and support a shift in policy focus from treatment to prevention.

How will your solution create tangible impact, and for whom?

Our solution’s ultimate tangible impact is a reduction in disease spread, reducing the health and economic impact of pandemics on society as a result of optimized NPI use.

Our proposals span protocols, research, policy, education and oversight that all need to work together as part of a framework that drives optimized NPI global pandemic response.

These are all designed for impact. Research standards will drive scientific consensus that will foster consistent messaging and evidence-based decision-making at global, national, regional and community levels. These will enhance NPI compliance and reduce the transmission of disease. Further study will build an evidence base, strengthening the argument for NPI use, making it easier for governments to act swiftly.

Ongoing best-practice education initiatives based on behaviour change analysis are key to our proposal, which could include global programmes for children; understanding and adherence to biosecurity protocols to stop zoonotic infections at the source; community messaging around infectious diseases and resulting NPI use. This puts countries in better positions for when acute interventions are needed. Greater oversight will enhance adoption of preventative measures through incentives and modeling.

Implementation will help reduce the impact of the next pandemic on public health, society and the global economy.

How will you scale your impact over the next one year and the next three years?

Pandemics are more frequent and part of the new normal. Studies showed over 35 new infectious diseases emerged between 1940 and 2004[1] and we will face a pandemic every 3.7 years on average[2].

We will seek to drive standardization in outcomes assessment of NPIs over the next 2-3 years working with appropriate academic institutions and researchers, analysing COVID-19 data as a starting point.

We have reached out to various research institutes, including TISS, Emory University, Ashoka University and Wits Business School about partnering on further research to start building the knowledge base we need, and EcoHealth Alliance for strengthening biosecurity protocols.

Over the next few years we would expect results from two further studies that strengthen NPI data:

Year 1 – 2: Observation study starting with winter season on Northern hemisphere, moving to Southern hemisphere spanning multiple countries
Year 2 – 3: Cohort study in a controlled community setting

We would also hope to have in place the foundations for educational programmes and public/private partnerships creating targeted and effective messaging around NPI adoption and usage.

Through economic modelling we will analyse the cost/benefit difference of investment in NPIs for prevention versus cure, outlining a standard of care regarding NPIs.

In year 3 we would hope to be able to conduct more meaningful comparative effectiveness analyses and see studies using more standardized outcome measures.

1) Nature 2008; 2) McKinsey 2020

How are you measuring success against your impact goals?

Our solution provides recommendations on the scope and actions that we should start implementing at global, national and regional levels, by authorities, governments, public health professionals and organizations. The scale of our solution covers protocols, research, policy, education and oversight.

The first measurement of success will be the implementation of the suggested actions. Specifically:

Progress towards consensus hygiene outcome measures to enable comparative effectiveness
Utilisation of ongoing social listening monitoring to measure real-world impact of public health messaging and perception of NPIs
Ongoing monitoring and correlation between NPI initiatives and reductions in infectious disease prevalence

We believe any action will bring positive impact and help build resiliency for the next pandemic and start the transition in policy focus from cure to prevention.

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More About Your Team

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