Abt's The Intersect

Opioids. Employment. The relationship between the two is complex. Abt experts Karin Martinson and Amy Berninger discuss the co-dependencies, and the efforts to develop programs that both promote recovery from substance use disorders and improve economic well-being.

Be it outbreak, epidemic, or pandemic—human or zoonotic—the goal is to get reliable information on infectious diseases, quickly. Abt experts Laura Edwards and Sung-Woo Cho discuss strategies for harnessing machine learning and data visualization to provide actionable information—at scale—that can help stem a health crisis.

For more on this topic, check out:

• Episode 2: How Can We Eradicate Infectious Diseases Using Machine Learning?

• Episode 6: Defeating TB—Private Sector to Predictive Analytics

Income inequality. Housing affordability. Education achievement gaps. These social determinants of health can impact families over generations. How do we close the opportunity gap to ensure families have the resources and capabilities they need to thrive? Amy Checkoway and Samuel Dastrup have been investigating this question from two different angles—Housing and Early Childhood Education—and share their insights on this month’s episode of The Intersect.

Health. Food security. Opioids. Child welfare.

When parents need support, the services they rely on sometimes fail the family by imposing unnecessary child separations. How can we help systems work together so families can stay together? Abt Associates' Allison Hyra and Katharine Witgert have some suggestions.

How do we defeat tuberculosis? With sustainable solutions. With support from the private sector. With data. Abt’s Elaine Baruwa (SHOPS Plus’ Nigeria tuberculosis project manager) and Jason Brinkley (leader of our design and research group) break it down in the latest episode of The Intersect podcast.

To reform the energy sector in developing countries, good governance is a must. Energy expert Dana Kenney and governance guru Tiernan Mennen discuss the challenges of promoting sound environmental practices and energy security in “the gray areas” between local and national governments—and strategies for reaching egalitarian solutions—in the latest episode of The Intersect podcast.

In “AI v. Opioids: Fighting Back with Data,” Abt’s Dana Hunt and Gabriel Krieshok explain how data from the past and present can help us solve the opioid crisis now.

Climate adaptation. Agriculture. Sustainability. They’re interconnected, but often addressed independently. Abt’s Sarah Kozyn and Lorine Giangola ask what if they combined their work with clients such as Feed the Future and CEADIR to address these issues holistically. We hope you'll join us at The Intersect.

How do we eradicate infectious diseases? By using machine learning to apply—and amplify—our accumulated knowledge and expertise across diseases.

Take 10 minutes to hear Abt’s Jill Berkowitz and Sung-Woo Cho discuss how we can leverage #AI to eradicate diseases, address famine and more:

Challenges in areas ranging from education to the environment, gender to governance, health to housing don’t exist in a vacuum. Each month, Abt experts from two disciplines will explore ideas for tackling these challenges in our new podcast, The Intersect. In this inaugural episode, Colleen Moore and Megan O’Grady discuss how we can address housing needs as we confront the effects of climate change.