融合算法与专家经验,提升发展中国家避孕需求预测精度。
A Novel Hybrid Approach to Contraceptive Demand Forecasting: Integrating Point Predictions with Probabilistic Distributions
- 用领域模型点预测+统计机器学习概率分布,结合人类判断
- 在多地区多产品场景下显著降低预测不确定性
- 适合资源有限地区,可推广至其他人道主义场景
准确的需求预测对保障避孕产品可靠供应至关重要,支持采购、库存和分发等关键流程。然而,发展中国家的避孕需求预测面临数据不全、质量差,以及需考虑多重地理与产品因素等挑战。现有方法多依赖简单技术,难以捕捉由这些因素带来的需求不确定性,往往需要专家介入。本研究通过融合概率预测方法与专家知识,提出一种混合模型:将领域特定模型的点预测结果,与统计及机器学习方法生成的概率分布相结合,使人工可对系统输出进行微调优化。该方法有效缓解需求不确定性,在资源有限环境下尤为适用。我们对比了时间序列、贝叶斯、机器学习及基础时间序列方法,并评估其优劣与计算成本。研究成果填补了避孕需求预测领域的空白,提供了一个算法与人类智慧协同的实用框架,且可推广至具有相似数据模式的其他人道主义场景。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Accurate demand forecasting is vital for ensuring reliable access to contraceptive products, supporting key processes like procurement, inventory, and distribution. However, forecasting contraceptive demand in developing countries presents challenges, including incomplete data, poor data quality, and the need to account for multiple geographical and product factors. Current methods often rely on simple forecasting techniques, which fail to capture demand uncertainties arising from these factors, warranting expert involvement. Our study aims to improve contraceptive demand forecasting by combining probabilistic forecasting methods with expert knowledge. We developed a hybrid model that combines point forecasts from domain-specific model with probabilistic distributions from statistical and machine learning approaches, enabling human input to fine-tune and enhance the system-generated forecasts. This approach helps address the uncertainties in demand and is particularly useful in resource-limited settings. We evaluate different forecasting methods, including time series, Bayesian, machine learning, and foundational time series methods alongside our new hybrid approach. By comparing these methods, we provide insights into their strengths, weaknesses, and computational requirements. Our research fills a gap in forecasting contraceptive demand and offers a practical framework that combines algorithmic and human expertise. Our proposed model can also be generalized to other humanitarian contexts with similar data patterns.
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