An integrated assessment of the socio-economic burden of Trypanosomiasis and Tick borne diseases in East Africa

Supervisors

Gemma Chaters, Medical School, (University of Lancaster) 

Harriet Auty, School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, (University of Glasgow)

Louise Matthews, School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, (University of Glasgow) 

 

Summary

This is an exciting project at the forefront of livestock disease burden socio-economic assessment and results communication. The student will use data to infer losses in livestock production due to trypanosomiasis and tick borne diseases and the socio-economic consequences of these losses at the household and wider societal level.

The project includes developing novel burden assessment methods for data scarce environments where livestock keeper livelihoods are dependent on better information to improve decision making capacity. The successful candidate will develop population, epidemiological and economic models to assess the socio-economic burden of trypanosomiasis and tick borne diseases in East Africa and an interactive platform through which these results can be communicated to stakeholders.

The aim is to provide animal health decision makers (from livestock keepers to ministries of agriculture and health) with robust estimates of the burden of specific pathogens, to enable efficient allocation of scarce animal health resources.

The candidate will join an enthusiastic, interdisciplinary team, learning skills in epidemiological, geostatistical and economic modelling, data analysis and visualization and veterinary epidemiology. As well as formal training in these areas, they will benefit from opportunities to engage with decision-makers in this area and the opportunity to visit collaborators and field sites in Tanzania and Ethiopia.