Interdisciplinary Seminar Series


Title: The Impact of Household Capital Models on Targeted Epidemiological Control Strategies for Diseases with Age-Based Etiologies

Speaker: Nina Fefferman, DIMACS, Rutgers University

Date: Monday, September 14, 2009 11:30 - 12:30 pm

Location: DIMACS Center, CoRE Bldg, Room 431, Rutgers University, Busch Campus, Piscataway, NJ


Abstract:

Many epidemiological models investigating outbreak control strategies have determined that targeting populations of concern for prevention/treatment can both help limit overall numbers of adverse outcomes, and also limit spread to the broader population (in which fewer adverse outcomes are expected). For example, we frequently discuss how children and the elderly should be targeted for flu vaccination/antiviral treatments. However, these models have assumed that resource limitation occurs only at the community level, rather than the individual household. I will discuss a model in which infection status impacts the ability of the household to recruit economic resources for the support of general health and nutrition of its members and demonstrate how this constraint can compromise the population-level epidemiological goals of a child-oriented intervention strategy.

Slides The Impact of Household Capital Models on Targeted Epidemiological Control Strategies for Diseases with Age-Based Etiologies