Measuring and modelling social contact and transmission risk in Nigeria (The Nigeria Social Contact Study)

Principal Investigator: Ifedayo Adetifa 
Institution: KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya (KWTRP)
Co-Investigators: Moses Kiti (KWTRP), Anthony Scott (KWTRP, LSHTM), Aishatu Adamu (Bayero University Kano (BUK) & Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH)), Christy Okoromah (College of Medicine University of Lagos (CMUL)/Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria (LUTH)), Kofo Odeyemi (CMUL/LUTH), Taiwo Amole (BUK, AKTH), Umar Lawan (BUK, AKTH)

Start date: September 2019

Mathematical modeling of the impact of interventions (such as vaccines) has been used to develop or inform public health policies. A key parameter in modeling transmission dynamics of infectious diseases is contact data, i.e. the probability of contact between an infectious source and a susceptible individual. Patterns of social mixing and human contact differ given socio-economic and cultural backgrounds; ideally transmission models should utilize location-specific contact data. Unfortunately, there are very few studies on social contact in sub-Saharan Africa, where periodic epidemics of infectious disease continue to be a major problem. This MPRU funded study will determine "who contacts whom" and quantify age-specific contact rates in an urban and a rural location in Nigeria. This project is expected to generate contact data that will improve modeling of carriage of mucosal pathogens and disease spread in Nigerian populations.

Aim and Impact

Provide context specific empirical data on social contact/mixing that will improve understanding of how infectious diseases spread within Nigerian populations and to provide empirical data to parameterise the models fitted in the parent and other studies.