Projects
Development of a geostatistical mapping tool to improve decision-making for Loa loa and LF
Can serological markers for NTDs (particularly Loa loa and Lymphatic filariasis) be incorporated into geostatistical maps and used to guide program decisions around treatment and surveillance?
Development of Tools to Re-Orient Social Mobilization Strategies to Close the MDA Coverage-Compliance Gap
To improve compliance and reduce the coverage-compliance gap in mass drug administration through enhanced and tailored social mobilization.
Equitable access to Mass Drug Administration for trachoma elimination: an ethnographic study to understand factors associated with low coverage in Kenya and Tanzania
Main objectives are firstly to identify and understand better the factors behind low and unequal MDA coverage and compliance in trachoma endemic areas in Tanzania and Kenya with nomadic populations, secondly to prioritize factors in terms of amenability to intervention. The researcher will then use the evidence generated to design specific interventions that could improve the reach and impact of campaigns of Zithromax MDA in both countries. While there are contextual differences between nomadic societies throughout Africa, research among the Masai in Tanzania and Kenya should inform programme services in other settings with nomadic populations. Particular attention will be given to gender-sensitivity; that is, interventions that will improve access and use by women as well as men.
Improving Access to Mass Drug Administration for Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination using a Participatory Approach among Communities of Coastal Kenya
To assess the socio-economic factors contributing to low access to MDA, to identify the existing health services opportunities and other outlets specific to various socio-economic groups that could be used for improving access to MDA, and to develop feasible field-applicable strategies that can be used to reach groups with consistently low access to MDA.
Lymphatic filariasis positive-case follow-up after TAS 2 or TAS 3 in Philippines
To identify the sampling strategy for positive case follow-up after TAS 2 and TAS 3 that optimizes the chances of correctly identifying evidence of ongoing transmission, while saving program resources.
Integrating use of point-of-care circulating cathodic antigen rapid diagnostic by community health workers during mass drug administration campaign to increase uptake of praziquantel treatment among adult populations in North-Western Tanzania
To assess if introducing point-of-care Circulating Cathodic Antigen rapid test to community health workers will increase access, compliance and coverage to treatment among adult individuals at Kome Island in North-Western Tanzania, an area on the Lake Victoria highly endemic for schistosomiasis
Does infection data add anything to our understanding of trachoma prevalence in low endemic areas?
To investigate prevalence of ocular chlamydial infection and associated risk factors in children aged 1-9 year in Manyoni district
Development of a molecular diagnostic method for soil-transmitted helminthiases: Epidemiological implications for disease control
To improve STH detection by developing a reliable and easy to perform molecular diagnostic test for epidemiological surveillance and post-elimination monitoring of STH