Data warehouse for climate-based infectious disease surveillance system in Finland

Abstract

Infectious diseases often occurred as an epidemic, placing human mortality and morbidity at great risk. It is scientifically proved that the life cycle and transmission of many infectious disease pathogens are inextricably intertwined with climate. The surveillance system possesses a significant role in controlling the diseases, pathogens and its clinical outcome. Considering the sensitivity of climate towards infectious disease, it is reasonable to set climate parameters such as weather and air quality as predictive indicators of the disease surveillance system. Supported by rapid development in big data, this breakthrough is feasible from the technical point of view. Explosive growth and accessibility of digital healthcare data, however, possess another issue. They are not only big in volume but also complex in variety and high at velocity. The incapability to deal with these traits concludes that the traditional database system is not the right equivalent for the big data stream. A powerful solution, therefore, is critically needed. This thesis work will explicate the design of a data warehouse as the proposed solution for the above problem.