HBKU professor applies game theory expertise for PPE supply challenges
04 Feb 2021 - 8:02
Dr. Luluwah Al Fagih (left) and Professor Jean-Christophe Nebel
The Peninsula
In the face of unprecedented global demand for medical resources, Assistant Professor in Engineering Management and Decision Sciences at the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Dr. Luluwah Al Fagih, has developed a game theory-based model that can be deployed to enhance stock management of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Dr. Al Fagih is the lead author for research that suggests the shortages in PPE, which have arisen in many countries during the pandemic, may not necessarily be the result of a national shortage but rather the inefficient distribution of resources in a timely manner. Dr. Al-Fagih collaborated with her PhD student at CSE Khaled Abedrabboh; researchers from the School of Computer Science and Mathematics, Kingston University London, UK; her form
Game theory used to model the impact of earlier stockpiling and increased PPE storage during COVID-19
Kingston University London researchers have used a mathematical model known as a game theory to explore how the challenge of securing sufficient levels of vital personal protective equipment
(PPE) for healthcare workers during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic could have been mitigated.
The need to protect frontline staff and key workers from coronavirus created an extraordinary demand for PPE across the globe in early 2020, resulting in inflated prices as countries competed against each other to secure huge orders of surgical masks, goggles, face shields, gowns, and gloves.