Campaign file

The campaign file is an optional JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) file that distributes outbreaks and contains all parameters that define the collection of interventions that make up a disease control or eradication campaign. For example, campaign parameters can control the following:

  • Size and location of outbreaks

  • Target demographic (age, location, gender, etc.) for interventions

  • Diagnostic tests to use

  • The cost and timing of interventions

Much of the power and flexibility of EMOD comes from the customizable campaign interventions. Briefly, campaigns are created through the hierarchical organization of parameter groups. It is hierarchically organized into logical groups of parameters that can have arbitrary levels of nesting. Typically, the file is named campaign.json. The relative path to this file is specified by Campaign_Filename in the configuration file.

To distribute an intervention, you must configure the following nested JSON objects:

campaign event

Event coordinators are nested within the campaign event JSON object and determine who receives the intervention. “Who” is determined by filtering on age, gender, or on the individual properties configured in the demographics files, such as risk group or sociodemographic category. See Individual and node properties.

event coordinator

Campaign events determine when and where an intervention is distributed during a campaign. “When” can be the number of days after the beginning of the simulation or at a point during a particular calendar year. “Where” is the geographic node or nodes in which the event takes place.

individual-level intervention

Individual-level interventions determine what will be distributed to individuals to reduce the spread of a disease. For example, distributing vaccines or drugs are individual-level interventions. In the schema, these are labeled as IndividualTargeted.

It is also possible (but not required) to configure why a particular intervention is distributed by adding trigger conditions to the intervention. For example, interventions can be triggered by notifications broadcast after some an event, such as Births (the individual’s own birth), GaveBirth, NewInfectionEvent, and more. It’s also possible to have one intervention trigger another intervention by asking the first intervention to broadcast a unique string, and having the second intervention be triggered upon receipt of that string. See Event list.

Individual-level interventions can be used as part of configuring a cascade of care along with the individual properties set in the demographics file. Use Disqualifying_Properties to disqualify individuals who would otherwise receive the intervention and New_Property_Value to assign a new value when the intervention is received. For example, you can assign a property value after receiving the first-line treatment for a disease and prevent anyone from receiving the second-line treatment unless they have that property value and are still symptomatic.

node-level intervention

Node-level interventions determine what will be distributed to nodes to reduce the spread of a disease. For example, spraying larvicide in a village to kill mosquito larvae is a node-level malaria intervention. Sometimes this can be an intermediate intervention that schedules another intervention. Node-level disease outbreaks are also configured as “interventions”. In the schema, these are labeled as NodeTargeted.

It is also possible (but not required) to configure why a particular intervention is distributed by adding trigger conditions to the intervention. For example, interventions can be triggered by notifications broadcast after some an event, such as Births, NewInfectionEvent, and more. It’s also possible to have one intervention trigger another intervention by asking the first intervention to broadcast a unique string, and having the second intervention be triggered upon receipt of that string. See Event list.

Creating campaigns describes some ways to configure a campaign file to target individuals with particular characteristics, repeat interventions, and more. See Campaign parameters for a comprehensive list and description of all parameters available to use in the campaign file for this simulation type.

Although you can create campaign files entirely from scratch, it is often easier to start from an existing campaign file and modify it to meet your needs. You can download sets of configuration and campaign files that illustrate how to model different disease scenarios at EMODScenarios. For more information, see Tutorials and simulation examples.