The PREPARE press
Welcome to our blog, dedicated to the work of the Horizon 2020 EU-funded project PREPARE4VBD. Here, you’ll find updates on our ongoing activities and the latest progress in our experiments. We aim to share the excitement about the impact of our project as we strive to address the spread of vector-borne diseases in a warming world.
Guest post by PhD student Lembris Laanyuni Njotto
Lembris Laanyuni Njotto, a PhD student in mathematical and statistical modeling at the University of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, recently completed a 2-month research stay at the University of Copenhagen, where he interacted with the PREPARE4VBD team. In this guest blog post, Lembris tells about his experience as an exchange student in Copenhagen.
“I’m Lembris Laanyuni Njotto from Tanzania. I am passionate about leveraging advanced statistical and machine learning techniques to analyze complex ecological and health datasets. Currently, I am working on developing and improving predictive models for the spread of vector-borne diseases, particularly malaria and dengue.
The link between climate and disease transmission is essential because climate factors such as temperature, rainfall, and humidity directly influence the behavior and survival of disease vectors like mosquitoes. By understanding these relationships, we can predict outbreaks of these diseases with greater accuracy. We use different kinds of statistical models to accomplish this. The ultimate goal is to create a predictive surveillance system that provides alerts to public health authorities, enabling them to act proactively in mitigating disease transmission and reducing the public health burden.
At the start of my recent 2-month stay in Denmark, I immediately noticed how different the work culture is compared to Tanzania. In Denmark, the work environment is both well-organized and flexible, with a big focus on work-life balance and giving people the freedom to manage their tasks. I was especially struck by the flat structure in workplaces, where everyone, no matter their position, is encouraged to share ideas and work together openly.
My stay in Denmark has significantly contributed to my professional growth and development. An important milestone during my time in Denmark was finalizing one of my publications, which has now been accepted for publication in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.“
Read Lembris’ paper on Quantitative modelling for dengue and Aedes mosquitoes in Africa here.
Left: Lembris with the PREPARE4VBD team at the section for Parasitology and Pathobiology, University of Copenhagen. Right: Lembris at Louisiana Museum in Denmark.
2024 - PREPARE4VBD - wrapped
It has been quite the year for PREPARE4VBD! We are officially into the final year of the project (three of four) and are expecting a lot of big things in 2025! But for now, check our ‘Prepare4VBD wrapped’ below to see all that has been achieved by the end of 2024.
For more information on some of the tools/techniques we used, visit our ‘Training materials’ page, and for other updates on our ongoing research, recent publications, and insights into our research fellows, read the full newsletter [here ->].