Sarah Craig | February 23, 2017
The University of Notre Dame’s Edwin Michael, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences and member of the Eck Institute for Global Health, is on the cutting edge of an initiative to address the sociology of disease transmission and control, by factoring in the impacts that complex transmission dynamics and social determinants play in the effective management of infectious diseases. His research was recently published in Infectious Disease of Poverty, an open access, peer-reviewed journal publishing topic areas and methods that address essential public health questions relating to infectious diseases of poverty.
“This is an important paper, as it challenges current NTD control practice and addresses why a new complexity-based governance model will be required for controlling these socio-ecologically complex diseases,” states Michael, lead author on the study. “This is the first time complexity science and socio-ecological principles have been brought to bear on deriving appropriately designed governance structures for parasite control.”
The implications of this research will change the way the global leaders from such institutions as the World Health Organization and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation develop pluralistic governance structures, including involving the community directly, for the control of a growing list of diseases. These frameworks will impact basic and applied research for tackling diseases like malaria, dengue fever, and now NTDs.
Originally published by at dailydomer.nd.edu on February 23, 2017.