Point-of-care ML model for predicting poor clinical outcome in paediatric sepsis in LMIC settings. No laboratory tests or imaging required. Uganda cohort. ideSHi, Bangladesh.
# Predicting Poor Clinical Outcome in Paediatric Sepsis Using Point-of-Care Features
**Md Rafin Rahman**¹, **Abdallah Tasawar Khan**², **Jafren Iqbal Rose**³, **Md Rofiqur Rahman**¹, **Firdausi Qadri**¹
¹ Institute for Developing Science and Health Initiatives (ideSHi), Dhaka, Bangladesh
² Kurmitola General Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh
³ Shaheed Monsur Ali Medical College & Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh
**Corresponding author:** Md Rafin Rahman, mrahman@ideshi.org
---
## Overview
This repository contains the complete analysis code for the manuscript:
> **Predicting Poor Clinical Outcome in Children with Suspected Sepsis in a Low-Resource Setting Using Point-of-Care Features: Model Development and Evaluation on a Ugandan Cohort**
> Rahman MR, Khan AT, Rose JI. *Submitted for publication, 2026.*
The study develops and evaluates a machine learning model for predicting a composite poor clinical outcome (in-hospital death or length of stay exceeding five days) in children under five years admitted with suspected sepsis in a sub-Saharan African low-resource setting. The model is constrained to point-of-care clinical features only — no laboratory tests, no imaging — collectable by a trained nurse or community health worker with a thermometer, pulse oximeter, and MUAC tape.
---
## Repository Structure
```
├── 01_preprocess.py # Data cleaning, feature engineering, encoding, imputation
├── 02_model.py # Baseline model training and evaluation (4 algorithms)
├── 03_tune.py # Hyperparameter optimisation with Optuna (TPE sampler)
├── 04_shap.py # SHAP explainability analysis (LinearExplainer)
├── data/
│ ├── feature_list.json # Final list of 45 selected features
│ └── processed.csv # Preprocessed dataset (NOT included — see Data Access below)
├── outputs/
│ ├── tuned_results.json # Final model performance metrics (holdout test set)
│ ├── final_calibrated_stats.json # Platt-calibrated model stat …