  Background: COVID-19 is impacting people worldwide and is currently a leading
cause of death in many countries. This study sought to redefine the Healthy
People 2030 SDoH taxonomy to accommodate the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, we
aim to provide a blueprint and implement a prototype for the Urban Population
Health Observatory (UPHO), a web-based platform that integrates classified
group-level SDoH indicators to individual- and aggregate-level population
health data. The process of building the UPHO involves collecting and
integrating data from several sources, classifying the collected data into
drivers and outcomes, incorporating data science techniques for calculating
measurable indicators from the raw variables, and studying the extent to which
interventions are identified or developed to mitigate drivers that lead to the
undesired outcomes. We generated and classified the indicators of social
determinants of health, which are linked to COVID-19. To display the
functionalities of the UPHO platform, we presented a prototype design to
demonstrate its features. We provided a use case scenario for 4 different
users. UPHO serves as an apparatus for implementing effective interventions and
can be adopted as a global platform for chronic and infectious diseases. The
UPHO surveillance platform provides a novel approach and novel insights into
immediate and long-term health policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and
other future public health crises. The UPHO assists public health organizations
and policymakers in their efforts in reducing health disparities, achieving
health equity, and improving urban population health.
