I wrote yesterday in a post about research put up by The Center For Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy. This is the link to my post.
I got the PDF as a Whatsapp forward, and shared it only after running a Google search for more details. I hit upon the website mentioned above, within which I found the page on which the results of the PDF were shared, along with the PDF itself.
This is from their “About” page:
CDDEP was founded with the objective of using research to support better decision-making in health policy. CDDEP researchers employ a range of expertise—including economics, epidemiology, disease modeling, risk analysis, and statistics—to conduct actionable, policy-oriented research on malaria, antibiotic resistance, disease control priorities, environmental health, alcohol and tobacco, and other global health issues.
CDDEP projects are global in scope, spanning Africa, Asia, and North America and include scientific studies and policy engagement. The CDDEP team is experienced in addressing country-specific and regional issues, as well as the local and global aspects of global challenges, such as antibiotic resistance and pandemic influenza. CDDEP research is notable for innovative approaches to design and analysis, which are shared widely through publications, presentations and web-based programs.
CDDEP has offices in Washington, D.C. and New Delhi, India and relies on a distinguished team of scientists, public health experts, and economists around the world.
The report seems to have been published on the 24th of March, 2020. But the reason I wanted to write this post is because of the following tweet:
@JohnsHopkins is this study by your students. It is circulating widely across India, suggesting a very grim picture pic.twitter.com/BuWFjrhLFP
— Neelakshi Mann (@nmann2015) March 26, 2020
This is the reply from Johns Hopkins:
The use of our logo was not authorized in this case and JHU is engaging with CDDEP on it. Thank you.
— Johns Hopkins University (@JohnsHopkins) March 26, 2020
The report that I shared with you was tweeted out by them on the 24th of March, 2020, at 11.45 pm:
Zoom-in and check out our state-level projections for COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations across India using the IndiaSIM model. More information here: https://t.co/BqhExai39x #COVID19 #india #globalhealth pic.twitter.com/qepQnSaGLe
— CDDEP (@CDDEP) March 24, 2020
CDDEP hasn’t retracted, so far, their report, nor have they responded publicly to Johns Hopkins saying that they haven’t had anything to do with this publication.
I will update this page with clarifications as and when they emerge, from either Johns Hopkins or from CDDEP.
My apologies for causing any confusion, if any, with my post from yesterday and my thanks to Prashant Jain for a brief conversation about this issue.