DOST urges LGUs to adopt FASSSTER for COVID-19 response

By Lilibeth A. French

The regional office of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in Western Visayas urged local government units in the region to adopt a tool that will help them monitor and predict coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) trends.

DOST 6 Information Officer Ma. Alicia Soledad Salazar said that the Feasibility Analysis of Syndromic Surveillance using Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Modeler (FASSSTER) was enhanced to create a predictive model for COVID-19 which will allow forecasting of possible cases in a given area at a specified period of time.

Salazar said FASSSTER was implemented as early as 2016 and piloted in Region VI and was intended as a disease outbreak predictive tool originally for dengue, measles and other diseases. It has been repurposed for COVID-19.

Currently, it is one of the tools being used by the national Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).

The data generated from this model will support the decision-making of the LGUs and concerned government agencies and healthcare facilities in terms of resource planning and other measures to mitigate the spread of the virus.

“LGUs can use this in identifying their courses of actions beyond the quarantine period,” Salazar said.

In a recent meeting, she said that the DOH 6 found the tool helpful in incident management, monitoring the epidemiological status/surveillance, risk communication and coordination, among others.

DOH 6 Director Marlyn Convocar will endorse the use of the application to provincial health offices and rural health units in the region, she added.

FASSSTER was developed by scientists and researchers coming from various disciplines such as health/medical sciences, computer and data science, social science, economics, among others.

Specifically, it was developed by the Ateneo Center for Computing Competency and Research in partnership with UP Manila and the DOH Epidemiology Bureau.

Also, critical support wa given by the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (NEDA-PIDS) and the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) to the project.

Salazar said interested users from LGUs can register directly to FASSSTER website at https://fassster.ehealth.ph/ covid19.

“The tool is not available to the general public,” she noted.  (PIA)