Population Health

Researchers in population health are focused in the statistical and epidemiological research group CHICAS which undertakes methodological research into the analysis of longitudinal and spatial variation in health outcomes, and leads important applied research projects in environmental epidemiology in both resource-rich and resource-poor countries. Building on long-standing expertise in longitudinal, spatial and spatio-temporal methods, we work with national and international partners to share expertise in infectious disease modelling, design of field studies, statistical genetics and computationally efficient methods for high-dimensional data. Our work has generated important insights on the epidemiology of leptospirosis in Brazil, Loa loa in equatorial Africa, meningitis in the sub-Saharan 'meningitis belt', human campylobacter and other food-borne infections in the UK.

Other researchers focus on population health in healthcare settings and the potential impact of interventions designed to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people. For example, a current project is looking at the potential to deliver interventions to increase uptake of routine childhood vaccinations during attendance to the Paediatric Emergency Department (PED). This includes addressing issues of data system interoperability (to enable timely access to accurate vaccination data), the feasibility/acceptability of delivering an intervention during a PED attendance, and a review of existing evidence around interventions delivered in hospital settings to improve vaccination uptake. The team has also published in the area of indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and young people, and continues to pursue this emerging area of research.