Piloting an ecological healthcare technology for the interruption of schistosomiasis transmission in a Madagascan coastal, rice-farming community
Supervisors:
Professor William Sloane, Science and Engineering/James Watt School of Engineering
PhD Project Summary:
Schistosomiasis is a parasitic, neglected tropical disease that infects over 240 million people worldwide, 93% of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. The life-cycle thrives in areas of poverty with inadequate access to safe water and sanitation. Eggs are excreted in human urine or stool and if they contact freshwater, can hatch and infect intermediate snail hosts, where they reproduce to release 1000s of larvae, which re/infect people when they enter the water, for bathing, fishing or rice farming for example. Food insecurity often also occurs in endemic areas. Prawns, crayfish, and bony fish, may be sustainably farmed whilst feeding on snails and their eggs, potentially reducing schistosomiasis transmission.
This PhD will address both food insecurity and schistosomiasis, supporting and evaluating community-designed prawn aquaculture infrastructures in rice paddy fields in Madagascar. The student will assess the impact of the aquaculture on food production and nutritional status, as well as estimating exposure to Schistosoma parasites through epidemiological studies. The effects of the aquaculture, may be further studied using a stochastic individual-based model, Schistox, to estimate the impact of these locally designed technologies on disease transmission. The student will gain skills in community-led design, ecological engineering, epidemiology, parasitology and mathematical modelling.