Training

Projects

Climate Variability and Human Health Impacts in Brazil

Funding Institution

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research
http://www.iai.int

Project Summary

Five students in the first year have had opportunities to get involved in a long-term research project.

• Roberta C. Dias - D.Sc. student (Public Health) at FIOCRUZ. Thesis title: "The influence of climate variability on malaria in the State of Roraima, Northern Amazonia, Brazil" (to be submitted). She is involved in the analysis of the role of socioeconomic factors in determining the incidence of malaria in the State of Roraima. 
  
• Érika S. Moreira - Medical undergraduate at the Federal University in Rio de Janeiro. She is responsible for the collection and analysis of meteorological and malaria data for the State of Maranhão.
  
• Sérgio Vieira - Undergraduate in Geography at the Federal University. He is involved in the collection of socioeconomic and demographic data.
  
• Juliana F. Lirio - Undergraduate in Medicine at the Federal University. She is responsible for the organization and analysis of dengue data.
  
• Maria Cristina M. Silva - Undergraduate in Computer Science. She is responsible for the organization of the data banks (both meteorological and epidemiological). 

The participation of undergraduate students is important. Only one doctoral research student has been involved in the first year because of institutional limitations. Due to a great demand in previous years, the graduate course at the National Public Health School reduced the number of new students being admitted every year. 

The potential sources of graduate students are:

* Graduate Programs of FIOCRUZ (Public Health, Tropical Medicine or Parasite Biology)
* Ecology Program at the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA), in Manaus, Brazil
* Remote Sensing/Meteorology Programs at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in Brazil
* Programs developing related research lines in other research institutes or universities 

The Brazilian component requires multiple disciplines (epidemiology; geography; statistics; computer sciences; entomology) and the collection and handling of large data sets.