Malaria risk factors in rural Amazonia: modeling human-environment dynamics

Abstract

This a proposal for a five month period internship at the Harvard School of Public Health under the supervision of Dr Márcia Castro, co-supervisor of the original research project. The main objective of this short-term research project is for the applicant to obtain training in epidemiological geospatial techniques. While at Harvard we will investigate the quick decline in malaria transmission in an area of Brazilian rural Amazon: Remansinho. We will use satellite imagery to analyze in great detail environmental changes over time (2010-2014) in this area and model its impact on malaria transmission, while adjusting for a number of other factors. These techniques shall later be used to compare malaria control strategies as proposed in the original project, for which complete epidemiological data is not yet fully available. (AU)