Geographic and socioeconomic heterogeneity in the incidence and treatments of infectious diseases

• Grant number: 21/11608-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: January 01, 2022
• End date: June 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - General Physics
• Principal Investigator: Francisco Aparecido Rodrigues
• Grantee: Kirstin Roster
• Supervisor: Yonatan Grad
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação (ICMC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Harvard University, Cambridge, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 19/26595-7 - Modeling vector borne diseases, BP.DR

Abstract

Incidence of infectious diseases as well as the costs and benefits of public health interventions are not evenly distributed across society. In this project, we aim to analyze the geographic and socioeconomic differences in infectious disease incidence and antibiotic prescribing, and measure their respective contributions to the overall variation in antibiotic prescriptions. We also intend to estimate the amount of resistance spillover between population groups and identify possible vaccine targets to reduce the demand for and consequently the expected resistance to antibiotics. The analysis will leverage a novel dataset of health services provided to low-income and otherwise uninsured families across the USA. We will employ both empirical and theoretical approaches, including the exploration of statistical and causal relationships, and mathematical modeling. We expect the results from this project to provide important contributions to the literature on the links between infectious diseases, their treatments, and public health interventions. We also hope to provide evidence for decision making in public health to develop effective infectious disease control measures and medical prescribing guidelines. (AU)