Research Projects

Malaria is a global public health problem affecting low and lower-middle-income countries, including Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Human activities, including migration, contribute to the spatiotemporal risk of malaria in SSA. Population movement, including deforestation and irrigation systems, increases the risk of malaria transmission. The proposed project aims to develop data-driven mathematical models and frameworks that account for ecological, epidemiological, and demographic principles related to human migration behavior and spatiotemporal spread of parasites. The research aims to quantify the association of population migration and malaria incidence in space and time from African databases and innovate novel game-theoretic models of human behavior in migration and malaria transmission using statistical data analysis. The project will also develop utility functions and develop a population game model to describe human decision-making of migration, integrating information obtained from the African database. The project will also expand the population game models using network-metapopulation theory and project the spatial model for future dynamics. Predictions from this binational research cooperation will be used for future collaborations on malaria elimination policies in SSA and elsewhere.