Tasmin Symons

Malaria Atlas Project (MAP)

The Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) aims to disseminate free, accurate and up-to-date geographical information on malaria and associated topics. Our mission is to generate new and innovative methods to map malaria, to produce a comprehensive range of maps and estimates that will support effective planning of malaria

Geospatial modelling for malaria risk stratification and intervention targeting for low-endemic countries

Geospatial modelling for malaria risk stratification and intervention targeting for high burden high impact countries

Malaria treatment for prevention: a modelling study of the impact of routine case management on malaria prevalence and burden

Testing and treating symptomatic malaria cases is crucial for case management, but it may also prevent future illness by reducing mean infection duration. Measuring the impact of effective treatment on burden and transmission via field studies or routine surveillance systems is difficult and potentially unethical. This project uses mathematical modeling to explore how increasing treatment of symptomatic cases impacts malaria prevalence and incidence. 

Fine-scale maps of malaria incidence to inform risk stratification in Laos

Malaria risk maps are crucial for controlling and eliminating malaria by identifying areas of varying transmission risk. In the Greater Mekong Subregion, these maps guide interventions and resource allocation. This article focuses on analysing changes in malaria transmission and developing fine-scale risk maps using five years of routine surveillance data in Laos (2017-2021). The study employed data from 1160 geolocated health facilities in Laos, along with high-resolution environmental data. 

Impacts on Human Movement in Australian Cities Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic

No studies have yet examined high-resolution shifts in the spatial patterns of human movement in Australia throughout 2020 and 2021, a period coincident with the repeated enactment and removal of varied governmental restrictions aimed at reducing community transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We compared overlapping timeseries of COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions, epidemiological data on cases and vaccination rates, and high-resolution human movement data to characterize population-level responses to the pandemic in Australian cities.

Gaussian random fields: with and without covariances

We begin with isotropic Gaussian random fields, and show how the Bochner-Godement theorem gives a natural way to describe their covariance structure. We continue with a study of Matérn processes on Euclidean space, spheres, manifolds and graphs, using Bessel potentials and stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs).

Maps and metrics of insecticide-treated net access, use, and nets-per-capita in Africa from 2000-2020

Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) are one of the most widespread and impactful malaria interventions in Africa, yet a spatially-resolved time series of ITN coverage has never been published. Using data from multiple sources, we generate high-resolution maps of ITN access, use, and nets-per-capita annually from 2000 to 2020 across the 40 highest-burden African countries.