Grantee Research Project Results
Climate Change, Land Use, and Malaria Transmission
EPA Grant Number: U916226Title: Climate Change, Land Use, and Malaria Transmission
Investigators: Desai, Manish A.
Institution: University of California - Berkeley
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: January 1, 2003 through January 1, 2006
Project Amount: $100,185
RFA: STAR Graduate Fellowships (2003) Recipients Lists
Research Category: Academic Fellowships , Fellowship - Public Health , Human Health
Objective:
There is growing concern that global environmental change will extend the distribution of malaria. At greatest risk are rural developing world communities already living at the margins of the disease. Yet, the relationships between climatic conditions and malarial risk are complex, complicated by intervening ecological and social factors, as well as the underlying dynamics of the disease. Land-use practices, in particular, exert significant influence on the climate-malaria nexus. The objective of this research project is to understand the consequences of perturbating malaria transmission across a landscape in a site-specific manner to better design public health programs.
Approach:
I will characterize and analyze the mechanisms by which climatic conditions, modulated by land-use practices, shape malarial risk in East Africa. I am developing a mathematical model of malaria transmission that will serve as a platform for integrating the essential features of disease dynamics with local environmental and epidemiologic information. Calibrated to spatially explicit data from the study site that extends from endemic lowlands to epidemic highlands, this research project will relate changes in climatic conditions and malarial risk, assess the mediating role of land-use practices, and inform future studies and interventions.
Supplemental Keywords:
fellowship, land use, land-use practices, climate change, malaria transmission, malaria, East Africa, climatic conditions, climate-malaria nexus., RFA, PHYSICAL ASPECTS, Health, Scientific Discipline, Air, Health Risk Assessment, Geochemistry, climate change, Air Pollution Effects, Epidemiology, Risk Assessments, Physical Processes, Atmosphere, anthropogenic stress, environmental monitoring, East Africa, climatic influence, exposure, human exposure, malaria transmission model, human dimension, land and water resources, landscape characterization, human health risk, land use, climate variabilityProgress and Final Reports:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.