Integration of Demographic, Climate and Epidemiological Factors in the Modeling of Meningococcal Meningitis Epidemic Occurrence in Niger

Susana Beatriz Adamo, Columbia University
Sylwia Trzaska, Columbia University
Laurence Cibrelus, Columbia University
Carlos Perez, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Madeleine Thomson, Columbia University
Gregory Yetman, Columbia University
John del Corral, Columbia University
Pietro Ceccato, Columbia University
Jan Perlwitz, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Ron Miller, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Olga Kalashnikova, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Meningitis outbreaks in the African Belt have been associated with climatic, epidemiological, and demographic and socioeconomic conditions. This paper presents preliminary results of an ongoing project looking at quantify the relative influence of these different factors in Niger, part of Africa’s Meningitis Belt. For that, we integrated climate, demographic and epidemiological data in a single, district-level database, and analyzed these data using exploratory data analysis and regression techniques.