Towards elimination of schistosomiasis:
Mathematical models and statistical methods to explore novel control interventions

Project summary

Schistosomiasis is an infectious disease caused by parasitic flatworms, affecting around 200 million people worldwide. Even with intensive biannual Mass Drug Administration, prevalence of infection has been seen to rebound rapidly after each round and plateau over time. The reasons are still poorly understood. In this project, I will investigate the causes of the rapid rebound of schistosomiasis by developing a stochastic Individual Based Model (IBM) that simulates the transmission of schistosomiasis in a population.

The development of IBM will be used to propose optimal implementation of current strategies (e.g. MDA, water, sanitation and hygiene or snail control) as well as innovative strategies (the introduction of new drugs and the use of pool testing) to move towards elimination.