Global atlas of Podoconiosis

Podoconiosis is a disfiguring swelling of the leg that imposes social and economic burdens on affected individuals. It can affect productivity and significantly compromise the development of endemic communities. Podoconiosis was included in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) list of neglected tropical diseases in 2011, but despite this the global distribution, burden and list of endemic countries is unknown. Partly this is due to a lack of understanding of the disease burden and its geographical distribution. Mapping the geographical distribution of the disease is the first step in launching control interventions. Mapping will provide information about where the disease occurs, identify priority areas which need interventions and quantify the population that is potentially exposed to the disease. Such information is useful in designing, monitoring and evaluating interventions using the data generated as a benchmark.

I intend to map the disease’s distribution in a global atlas of podoconiosis, estimating the number of people affected, the working years lost to podoconiosis-associated disability and the economic cost of the disease.

This research will generate information essential to the planning of control and elimination of podoconiosis in countries where the disease is common.

This grant was awarded under the scheme's previous name of Intermediate Fellowships in Public Health and Tropical Medicine.