Data sharing platforms to improve treatment outcomes in neglected tropical diseases

We will develop data-sharing platforms to assimilate and collaboratively interrogate global data on i) schistosomiasis ii) soil transmitted helminths, iii) visceral leishmaniasis, iv) melioidosis and v) scrub typhus. This proposal will support the development of the technical platform and curation of data from tens of thousands of patients enrolled to treatment trials and programmatic data of these diseases for use in collaborative meta-analysis to answer key public health questions. The platform’s technical infrastructure will include secure data upload, auditable mapping of multi-disciplinary datasets to a standardised data structure, searchable data inventory and systems to request and receive data. The governance framework will ensure terms of data access that follow principles of equitable and ethical data sharing under the guidance of Science Advisory Committees nominated by the relevant disease communities. Support for the coordination and production of scientific output from the platform will be provided to ensure impact. Platform construction will leverage the expertise and investment in our existing malaria data platform, the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN). Prior funding has supported the development of successful pilot platforms for visceral leishmaniasis and schistosomiasis/soil-transmitted helminths, and we will assess the feasibility and impact of establishing platforms for melioidosis and scrub typhus.