Eimear is a PhD student with the Department of Global Health at the Research School of Population Health. Prior to her PhD, Eimear completed a Bachelor of Science and Master of Public Health in Ireland where she developed an interest in the transmission dynamics of communicable disease. Since completing her MPH, Eimear has worked on a project in China investigating parasite prevalence among livestock and on an Irish longitudinal study on ageing among people with intellectual disabilities.

Abstract

Variables that drive disparity in malaria transmission are often ecological and environmental risk factors such as distance to breeding sites, climate, elevation, vegetation cover and human demographics. Associations between these risk factors and malaria incidence however are not fully understood. Understanding the dynamics that drive transmission, and differences in transmission between communities, helps to identify populations in endemic regions at greatest risk which can inform development of targeted interventions.
In regions nearing elimination, reservoirs of infection can persist in high-endemic, neighbouring populations. People living in these neighbouring populations can have acquired immunity, carry parasites asymptomatically and may provide a human reservoir of infection. Frequent migration between these settings potentially facilitates the spread of infection to people less likely to have acquired immunity, who are therefore are more susceptible to clinical disease, and may impede achievement and maintenance of malaria elimination.