Multidisciplinary team blends data and tools to improve vaccine equity in eastern Africa
May 1, 2023
Contact: Jon Meerdink ([email protected])
ANN ARBOR — A multidisciplinary team is taking steps to improve vaccine equity in eastern Africa.
The team, which includes researchers from the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) and the University of Michigan, will blend high-quality data and reliable digital tools that will increase vaccine coverage throughout the region.
The U-M contingent includes Emily Treleaven, who also holds an appointment as a Research Assistant Professor at the Institute for Social Research’s Survey Research Center (SRC). Treleaven will serve as a co-principal investigator for the study on which the data and tools will be based with Gershim Asiki, Research Scientist at the APHRC.
As outlined by the Center for Global Health Equity, the final product will give patients (particularly children) and caregivers in eastern Africa access to more reliable data in the form of a digital “vaccine card,” which should serve as a more secure method to maintain vaccine records among the underserved urban and rural populations.