Evaluating Biosurveillance System Components using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) provides a methodology to approach the problem of biosurveillance system component evaluation. Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed a robust evaluation framework in which we use MCDA to assist in the evaluation of data streams for use in an integrated global biosurveillance system. We identified several potentially useful data streams through this technique and propose that MCDA may be a valuable tool, provided a robust evaluation framework is available.