Senior Research Officer
PhD (Biostatistics)
Dr Susan Rumisha is a Senior Research Officer and a biostatistician working in the field of public health and infectious disease epidemiology. She has over 15 years of experience in designing and conducting high quality malaria and health system research. She obtained her doctorate in Bayesian spatio-temporal modeling of malaria transmission and mortality in Africa, at University of Basel and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Switzerland in 2011. She has expertise in building statistical models and applying analytical techniques to big data.
Dr Rumisha works with the Malaria Atlas Project (formerly at the Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, UK) now with Telethon Kids Institute in Perth, Australia, where she leads spatial-temporal modelling of effective treatment with antimalarials against Plasmodium falciparum for estimation of malaria incidence, prevalence and mortality globally. Previously, she worked with the National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania, of which she still holds strong links. In collaboration with other researchers, Dr Rumisha has co-authored a book chapter and published several articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr Rumisha interest is to apply advanced and modern statistical approaches to data from surveys, researches and routine health surveillance systems to generate evidence to guide decision-making processes in public health practice, policy formulation and health systems performance, at national, regional and global level.
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Projects
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Publications
April 2023
Evaluating COVID-19-Related Disruptions to Effective Malaria Case Management in 2020–2021 and Its Potential Effects on Malaria Burden in Sub-Saharan Africa
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to far-reaching disruptions to health systems, including preventative and curative services for malaria. The aim of this study was to estimate the magnitude of disruptions in malaria case management in sub-Saharan Africa and their impact on malaria burden during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used survey data collected by the World Health Organization, in which individual country stakeholders reported on the extent of disruptions to malaria diagnosis and treatment.
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and Development COVID-19 MalariaApril 2023Community knowledge, attitude and practices regarding zoonotic viral haemorrhagic fevers in five geo-ecological zones in Tanzania
Viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHF) cause significant economic and public health impact in Sub-Saharan Africa. Community knowledge, awareness and practices regarding such outbreaks play a pivotal role in their management and prevention. This study was carried out to assess community knowledge, attitude and practices regarding VHF in five geo-ecological zones in Tanzania.
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and DevelopmentDecember 2022Improving disease surveillance data analysis, interpretation, and use at the district level in Tanzania
An effective disease surveillance system is critical for early detection and response to disease epidemics. This study aimed to assess the capacity to manage and utilize disease surveillance data and implement an intervention to improve data analysis and use at the district level in Tanzania.
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and DevelopmentDecember 2022Performance of antigen detection for HRP2-based malaria rapid diagnostic tests in community surveys: Tanzania, July–November 2017
Malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) based on the detection of the Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 (HRP2) antigen are widely used for detection of active infection with this parasite and are the only practical malaria diagnostic test in some endemic settings.
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and DevelopmentDecember 2022The overlapping burden of the three leading causes of disability and death in sub-Saharan African children
Despite substantial declines since 2000, lower respiratory infections (LRIs), diarrhoeal diseases, and malaria remain among the leading causes of nonfatal and fatal disease burden for children under 5 years of age (under 5), primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and Development MalariaDecember 2022Mapping age- and sex-specific HIV prevalence in adults in sub-Saharan Africa, 2000–2018
Human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is still among the leading causes of disease burden and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and the world is not on track to meet targets set for ending the epidemic by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and DevelopmentFebruary 2022Spatial codistribution of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in Ethiopia
HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria are the three most important infectious diseases in Ethiopia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Understanding the spatial codistribution of these diseases is critical for designing geographically targeted and integrated disease control programmes. This study investigated the spatial overlap and drivers of HIV, TB and malaria prevalence in Ethiopia.
Published research Healthy Skin and ARF Prevention Geospatial Health and Development Malaria Geospatial and TuberculosisAugust 2022Comparative assessment of the human and animal health surveillance systems in Tanzania: Opportunities for an integrated one health surveillance platform
Globally, there have been calls for an integrated zoonotic disease surveillance system. This study aimed to assess human and animal health surveillance systems to identify opportunities for One Health surveillance platform in Tanzania.
Published research Geospatial Health and DevelopmentJuly 2022Rift Valley fever seropositivity in humans and domestic ruminants and associated risk factors in Sengerema, Ilala, and Rufiji districts, Tanzania
Data on Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) prevalence in urban settings and pastoral areas of Tanzania are scarce. We performed a cross-sectional study of RVFV seroprevalence and determinants in humans and animals from Ilala, Rufiji, and Sengerema districts of Tanzania.
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and DevelopmentApril 2022Viral haemorrhagic fevers and malaria co-infections among febrile patients seeking health care in Tanzania
In recent years there have been reports of viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF) epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa where malaria is endemic. VHF and malaria have overlapping clinical presentations making differential diagnosis a challenge.
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and Development MalariaDecember 2021Antimicrobial susceptibility testing profiles of ESBL-producing Enterobacterales isolated from hospital and community adult patients in Blantyre, Malawi
There is a paucity of data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Malawi. Here we present a study of AMR of extended-spectrum β-lactamases-producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E) isolated from hospital and community settings in Blantyre, Malawi.
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and DevelopmentNovember 2021Twenty years of integrated disease surveillance and response in Sub-Saharan Africa: challenges and opportunities for effective management of infectious disease epidemics
This systematic review aimed to analyse the performance of the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response strategy in Sub-Saharan Africa and how its implementation has embraced advancement in information technology, big data analytics techniques and wealth of data sources.
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and DevelopmentOctober 2021Global, regional, and national mortality among young people aged 10–24 years, 1950–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
Documentation of patterns and long-term trends in mortality in young people, which reflect huge changes in demographic and social determinants of adolescent health, enables identification of global investment priorities for this age group. We aimed to analyse data on the number of deaths, years of life lost, and mortality rates by sex and age group in people aged 10-24 years in 204 countries and territories from 1950 to 2019 by use of estimates from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019.
Published research Geospatial Health and Development COVID-19September 2021Socio-Ecological Systems Analysis and Health System Readiness in Responding to Dengue Epidemics in Ilala and Kinondoni Districts, Tanzania
Since 2010, Tanzania has been experiencing frequent outbreaks of dengue. The objectives of this study were to carry out a socio-ecological systems analysis to identify risk factors and interventions and assess the readiness of the district in the prevention and control of dengue.
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and Development Dengue feverSeptember 2021Global, regional, and national progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 for neonatal and child health: all-cause and cause-specific mortality findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 has targeted elimination of preventable child mortality, reduction of neonatal death to less than 12 per 1000 livebirths, and reduction of death of children younger than 5 years to less than 25 per 1000 livebirths, for each country by 2030.
Published research Early Childhood Development Geospatial Health and DevelopmentSeptember 2021Carriage prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing enterobacterales in outpatients attending community health centers in Blantyre, Malawi
Antimicrobial resistance due to extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) production by Enterobacterales is a global health problem contributing to increased morbidity and mortality, particu-larly in resource-constrained countries. We aimed to determine the prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E) in community patients in Blantyre, Malawi.
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and DevelopmentAugust 2021Seroprevalence and associated risk factors of chikungunya, dengue, and Zika in eight districts in Tanzania
This study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence and risk factors of chikungunya (CHIKV), dengue (DENV), and Zika (ZIKV) viruses in Tanzania.
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and DevelopmentJuly 2021Seroprevalence and associated risk factors of selected zoonotic viral hemorrhagic fevers in Tanzania
To determine the seroprevalence of selected zoonotic viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) and their associated risk factors in Tanzania.
Published research Infectious Diseases Geospatial Health and DevelopmentJune 2021Mapping malaria by sharing spatial information between incidence and prevalence data sets
As malaria incidence decreases and more countries move towards elimination, maps of malaria risk in low-prevalence areas are increasingly needed. For low-burden areas, disaggregation regression models have been developed to estimate risk at high spatial resolution from routine surveillance reports aggregated by administrative unit polygons.
Published research Geospatial Health and Development MalariaMay 2021Data utilisation and factors influencing the performance of the health management information system in Tanzania
Health Management Information System (HMIS) is a set of data regularly collected at health care facilities to meet the needs of statistics on health services. This study aimed to determine the utilisation of HMIS data and factors influencing the health system's performance at the district and primary health care facility levels in Tanzania.
Published research Geospatial Health and Development -
Education and Qualifications
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Awards/Honours
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Active Collaborations