Rabies persistence and elimination on Pemba Island, Tanzania

Kennedy aims to characterise rabies transmission on Pemba Island, where the disease is circulating at low levels in an isolated, closed and relatively small population where vaccination campaigns are active. By tracking transmission and monitoring levels of vaccination coverage through time, this study aims to understand the determinants of rabies persistence, including the impacts of landscape and population connectivity, and how foci of infection can be eliminated. Patients reporting with animal-bite injuries and suspect rabies cases will be investigated. All contacts associated with these incidents will be traced, identifying whether incidents involved healthy or rabid animals, generating detailed transmission networks and accurately capturing spatiotemporal patterns of incidence.

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