The Malaria Modeling Consortium Secretariat hosted a short series of virtual Lightning Talks. The purpose of the talks was to build community engagement and provide an opportunity for exchange within the malaria modeling community while global travel restrictions are in place.
Our student Sandra Adele (cohort 2019-20) presented on her MSc IHTM placement work at IHME (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation) summer talks.
“Being able to share the work I have done at the IHME summer talk was an amazing opportunity to engage with the IHME community of statistical and mathematical modellers. From research exploring the impact of human mobility trends on malaria transmission to the role of genetically modified mosquitoes in elimination, the research presented was very timely and made for very engaging discussions.“
Sandra Adele (cohort 2019-2020) presented her work, a mathematical modelling analysis highlighting the potential impacts of COVID-19 on malaria in Nigeria. She focused on disruptions in malaria vector control, treatment and hospitalization. This disruption could rise malaria incidence significantly, causing higher mortality. In addition to the timeliness of her work, the end results align with modelling work done by the Imperial College modelling group and the WHO on COVID-19 impacts on malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. By focusing on Nigeria, Sandra accounts for the spatial heterogeneity among African countries in COVID-19 disease trajectory and malaria control strategies used.
“Personally, I felt fortunate to share my work and receive feedback from experts in the field of modelling who I look up to. I’m grateful for the continuous support and training provided by the IHTM community, my wonderful supervisors Dr Moritz Kraemer and Rachel Hounsell and those who were instrumental in the coming together of this project, Dr Lisa White and Amelia Bertozzi-Villa.”
View a video of Sandra Adele - The impact of COVID 19 on malaria in Nigeria on YouTube