Tech Reports

ULCS-07-011

A Prototype Agent-based Model of Antimalarial Drug Compliance

Jez Mckean, Sebastian Rahlf, Hayden Shorter, Guy Barnish, Ray Paton, Peter McBurney, Dyfrig Hughes and Ian Hastings


Abstract

This paper reports an original prototype agent-based computer simulation model of decision-making by families regarding adoption of treatments for malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on the epidemiological literature, a novel, qualitative, within-household decision model is articulated, and combined with a qualitative, between-households model of diffusion of decision-influence. The main objectives of this work were: (a) to better understand the domain-specific and computational issues involved in developing a multi-agent model of anti-malarial drug compliance; and (b) to gain experience of the software engineering challenges involved in a full-scale MAS model of malaria treatment compliance decisions.

In this note, we describe the main components of our prototype model, and identify the key lessons which the prototype has provided us for software engineering, calibration and model deployment in realistic policy environments.

[Full Paper]