Effective public health decision-making relies on access to suitable data to make evidence-based decisions.

Without the appropriate information, it is difficult both to respond effectively to public health crises, such as those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to address existing public health inequalities.

In order to facilitate and improve people’s access to public health services, we need to understand how people are geographically distributed, their mobility, and how these vary over time.

However, the people who most need the attention of public health professionals are also often those we have the least information about. With CDR data we can conduct a range of analyses to support various public health functions, including:

  • Infectious disease surveillance
  • Modelling the spread and control of infectious disease
  • Evaluating public health interventions
  • Optimising the location of public health and sanitation facilities
  • Planning public health surveys and information campaigns

In this section, we will take you through the process and applications of CDR analytics in four main contexts: