Shreya Karthikeyan

In what temperature ranges and humidity levels of water do vectors for neglected diseases thrive?

Started Mar. 3, 2022

Abstract or project description

Neglected tropical diseases, otherwise known as NTDs, are native to parts of Asia & Africa. They run rampant in developing countries and affect the lives of many people negatively despite the availability of resources to prevent their spread. While NTDs are allocated some funding, there are ultimately not enough resources given to neglected tropical diseases by world health agendas to completely eradicate them. In order to illustrate the prominence of neglected diseases and the urgency needed to treat them, we will create a database and corresponding dashboard. The data for this dashboard will come from recorded cases of specific neglected tropical diseases in Africa. The neglected tropical diseases considered will be river blindness, malaria, leishmaniasis, African sleeping sickness, and trachoma. But ultimately, only three of these diseases will be chosen depending on data availability. In addition to recorded cases of these diseases, information about the environmental conditions, such as temperature ranges and humidity levels, where vectors to neglected tropical diseases thrive will also be given. The database will allow searching among multiple neglected diseases by specific conditions such as geography or the vector of the disease. Meanwhile, the dashboard will show a geographic mapping of the disease’s hotspots and locations with similar geography, as well as a line graph of the number of cases over time. Through this, we expect that the prominence of neglected diseases will be highlighted, along with the need to take action to prevent their spread. Neglected tropical diseases are a huge problem, but with increased urgency to treat them, their spread can be contained.