Using A.I to Forecast Respiratory Disease Outbreaks w/ Dr Steffen Albrecht from the University of Auckland: 23 October, 2024

Recently, a study was conducted at the university of Auckland analysing the use of A.I in predicting the prevalence of respiratory disease outbreaks during flu seasons in Aotearoa.

Forecasting models are essential for hospitals in predicting admissions and subsequently allocating resources and beds.

However, during peak flu periods, and, most notably the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals across Aotearoa have been largely underprepared for respiratory disease outbreaks, hence why experts have called for improvements to be made to traditional forecasting models. 

Oto spoke to Dr Steffen Albrecht, a Research Fellow at the School of Computer Science at the University of Auckland and author of the study, to talk about the study and how A.I could help disease forecasting models in hospitals across Aotearoa.