The Weather Company Enables xtLytics to Help Tackle Infectious Diseases with Analytics and Weather Data

The Weather Company, an IBM Business, is now enabling xtLytics to try and help reduce the prevalence of infectious diseases worldwide. xtLytics has created a Solution Excellence Center at their facility in Noida, India (part of the Delhi NCR region), which now combines The Weather Company data with xtLytics analytic capabilities to better understand how weather conditions affect the spread of disease.

The xtLytics center will also help patients make better lifestyle decisions and help train data scientists on weather analytics, life sciences services, and ways to develop solutions for the healthcare ecosystem.

Using The Weather Company’s data and xtLytics unique 360-degree analytics approach along with artificial intelligence-based models, the xtLytics solutions and services will aim to improve patient care and experience, better manage inventory at hospitals, and enable end-users to become more aware of their options. The solution aims to provide a valuable understanding of the connection between personal health and climatic conditions, especially with geographic-specific diseases.

History has shown that infectious disease outbreaks often follow severe weather events. In India, the onset of water-borne and vector-borne diseases during the monsoon — such as malaria, cholera, chikungunya and dengue — is quite common.

Furthermore, certain weather conditions can play key roles in the spread of disease; rainfall, temperature and humidity can aid in the development of the primary mosquito that carries diseases such as dengue and Zika. Therefore the life sciences industry, vaccine companies and associations that specialize in infectious disease control can potentially benefit from such an alliance.

xtLytics will incorporate relevant datasets from The Weather Company such as severe weather, historical weather, current conditions and seasonal forecasts to help provide insights and measure risks for those making healthcare decisions. Additionally, the xtLytics Solution Excellence Center will target improving healthcare outcomes of patients taking medication for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and certain types of cancer (linked to fungal infection).

“It takes passion to start a revolution,” said Deepak Mittal, CEO of xtLytics, LLC. “The ability to go deep into the data to uncover powerful insights on patients’ journeys and their correlation to the choice or change of medication can act as a game-changer in today’s world. Our collaboration with The Weather Company aims to help organizations in the healthcare ecosystem effectively use the right resources in the right areas, cut unnecessary expenditures, and at the same time improve results. Such a project may be an example of how data and analytical solutions can improve the effectiveness of the life sciences industry."

"IBM will work with life sciences application development partners like xtLytics in the hope of improving awareness around incorporating weather data and analytics to help better inform healthcare providers. The xtLytics solution will help the complete ecosystem of doctors, hospitals and pharma companies to stay better informed to better serve their customers and patients,” said Himanshu Goyal, India Sales and Alliances leader, The Weather Company.