OWSD PhD Fellowship
OWSD Early Career
2024
Ketema Tsige
About the project
Her research project will provide an early warning system for a malaria resurgence linked to Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes in drought-prone areas of Ethiopia. Currently, the re-emergence of malaria has become a top public health concern of the country mainly because of the newly emerged and widely spread An. stephensi, a malaria vector in areas of the country with high malaria transmission. Health authorities in the nation face difficulties in designing proactive preventive strategies against this vector due to the lack of information regarding the mosquitoes’ biology, their response to climate variability, and the effectiveness of currently used intervention activities. Thus, this project aims to develop an early warning system for malaria outbreaks through a relevant fractional derivative order mathematical model. The mathematical model will be designed based on data gathered from the An. stephensi aquatic life stages (larvae and pupae), the effect of the climatic variables on the life table, and the vector’s response to the currently available insecticides under a laboratory setting. The prediction analysis of the model will be undertaken using computing software programs. The model will assist in developing efficient intervention measures against An. stephensi besides forecasting the malaria resurgence.
Field of Specialization
Position
Professor