The International COVID-19 Data Alliance (ICODA) is an independent consortium of leading life science, philanthropic, and research organizations uniting to respond to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Our vision is to unite international health research data to enable discoveries that benefit everyone, everywhere, by reducing the harm of COVID-19; and enable an efficient data response to future pandemics and other health challenges.
Our mission is to build an open and trustworthy international research partnership to support a rapid response to COVID-19 and a long-term alliance for making data accessible to health researchers and scientists around the world.
Priorities as a partner of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data
Our aim is to empower researchers to access health data from around the world, to address key research questions to tackle COVID-19. Too often, data is siloed or too difficult to find, access and use effectively. By working together and building a trustworthy approach, we can help overcome the challenges of data sharing.
We offer data contributors a streamlined process to facilitate access to data, with rigorous data governance based on the ‘five safes’ framework. Importantly, data contributors can retain control of decisions about how data they hold can be accessed and used. Our secure workbench environment includes a wide range of analytical tools and fosters collaborations between researchers and data scientists, to support high quality science. Where data cannot be transferred, we are pioneering the use of federated analysis across data repositories.
Our focus is research-led. We are prioritizing “Driver Projects” – specific research questions, bringing together a range of datasets for researchers to analyze to deliver health impact. These Driver Projects also allow us to test our processes and tools as we build an approach for the long-term. Our ambition is to develop an enduring and scalable analysis infrastructure that will transform the way data can be accessed and used to tackle future pandemics and health challenges.