Kai's Data Science Blog

I find fun in data, hope you do too!

A Budget Impact Analysis on Immunisation Coverage: Evidence from UNICEF Global Immunization Budget Database in LMICs, 2021–2025

This study was first presented in the Global Health session at the 2025 Taiwan Public Health Joint Annual Conference on 19 October 2025 in Taipei, Taiwan. The original slide deck has been adapted into this post, highlighting three key points: UNICEF’s Global Immunisation Budget Databases (GIBD), launched in June 2025, is an AI-driven breakthrough in immunisation financing. In LMICs, immunisation budget increases showed a positive link with DTP first-dose coverage.
2025-10-18

The WHO Pandemic Agreement: No True Health Security Without Taiwan

I volunteer for the Taiwan Youth Initiatives in Europe (TYIE) and originally published this post on TYIE’s website, discussing : What is the WHO Pandemic Agreement? Why is the exclusion of Taiwan unjustified? The approval of the World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Agreement by the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA) Committee in May marks a landmark global commitment to fortify pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPR) capacities. The agreement aims to achieve the common interest of a more equitable and better prepared world to prevent, respond to and recover from pandemics.
2025-07-12

Lives on the Line: Gavi’s 6.0 Strategy Faces Funding Uncertainty

Without Sustained Funding From the U.S., 75 Million Children May Go Unvaccinated in the Next Five Years. The New York Times reported in March that the U.S. planned to halt funding for select foreign programmes - including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The consequences could be dire, as many as 75 million children could miss vaccinations over the next five years, along with 1.2 million deaths from preventable diseases. It is part of a broader “America First” agenda that includes winding down USAID and withdrawing from the WHO.
2025-06-17

Self-sustained data & measures in Power BI

This post aims to advance your Power BI skills by: Creating a sequence of sustained measures in a new table, rather than having random measures co-existing with variables. Updating longitudinal data when new data is routinely received. [Note that the data used in this post are examples, inspired by my work with the Immunisation Financing & Sustainability (IF&S) team at Gavi. The views expressed here are my own and do not represent those of my former employer, Gavi.
2025-03-13

Co-financing for vaccine portfolio: visual tips and data flow

This post shares my work at the lovely Immunisation Financing & Sustainability (IF&S) team at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Please note that views expressed here are my own and don’t represent the views of my employer, Gavi. It covers: Brief intro for Gavi’s Co-financing model 5 visual tips for portfolio management (some with R code), e.g. risk-assessment table and faceted pie An optimized data flow for a complex data ecosystem What is Co-financing Under Gavi’s Co-financing policy, countries share the costs of the vaccine programmes by directly co-procuring a portion of the vaccines and injection devices from a supplier or procurement agency to fulfill their co-financing requirements.
2024-12-31

Mapping the Relationships: Modelling Immunisation Efforts on the Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis Rate

This post shares my poster presentation at the Vaccine Hesitancy Course held by the Croucher Foundation in August, 2024, Hong Kong. Download the poster here, which is the milestone of my thesis project at LSHTM. Introduction Global incidence of polio has decreased by 99% since 1988. Non-polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis (NPAFP) is the key indicator for the sensitivity of polio surveillance. While countries with circulating poliovirus consistently report NPAFP rates exceeding the gold-standard indicator*, it is not well-understood what rate should be expected.
2024-07-18

My MSc Journey at LSHTM

This post shares my two publications at LSHTM, showcasing my two student roles and achievements: Student and Digital Content Ambassador Student Liason Officer at the Vaccine Centre Songs That Accompany Our Study In this blog post, I share the diverse music landscape shaped by my MSc Health Data Science classmates from across the globe. This post is also being highlighted on the World Music Day, 21th June 2024, by the LHSTM channel of Instagram and Facebook.
2024-06-13

Where COVID Has Shifted Flu and RSV Seasons

This post shares a publication on Think Global Health, showcasing collaborative efforts with my teammamtes: Wan-Jen Lee, Giovanni Jacob, Dhihram Tenrisau, and Caitlynne McGaff. Read our article by navitagting to Think Global Health. Data Visualisations Epicurve in England This graph has been recreated by Editor Allison Krugman. Selected Heatmaps Heatmaps showing the log hospitalization rates for influenza and RSV throughout each season. Darker shades means higher hospitalization rate. This graph has been recreated by Editor Allison Krugman.
2024-05-13

The Beginnig of the End: What Is the Expected Notification Rate of the Polio Surveillance Indicator?

This post presents my research proposal for my MSc thesis: “Predicting the rate of Acute Flaccid Paralysis in different settings to support polio surveillance and elimination”. You will learn why non-polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis (NPAFP) is important in support of polio eradication. The current challenge involves interpreting the AFP indicator that exceed the targeted levels. Potential data sources and modelling methods are raised to fill this knowledge gap. Aim and Objectives Research Aim To investigate and model the mechanisms underlying the notification of the key polio surveillance indicator - NPAFP rates in endemic and outbreak settings.
2024-05-03

World Immunisation Week 2024

For poeple doing vaccination works, their world wareness day is not a single day - it’s a week, spanning from 24th to 30th April each year. This year, WHO celebrate 50 years of the “Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI)”. In LSHTM’s Vaccine Centre (VaC), our world immunisation week (WIW) topic this year is “responding to outbreaks”. We want to highlight the collective action needed to protect people from outbreaks and vaccine-preventable diseases.
2024-04-22