Community Vulnerability to Malaria in Madre de Dios, Peru
Abstract
Construction of a highway and artisanal gold mining have contributed to population
and land use changes within the department of Madre de Dios, Peru. Such changes are
expected to alter malaria rates due to impacts on vector habitat and human exposure.
Vulnerability, as defined by the possibility of bereavement of a physical good or
abstract state, is useful for understanding which communities are most likely to be
adversely impacted by hazards such as malaria. A model defining susceptibility (SUS)
and lack of resilience (LOR) was used to create an index of vulnerability to malaria
for 40 communities in Madre de Dios. Indicators of SUS and LOR were developed from
household and community data and combined into a final vulnerability index score.
Vulnerability scores ranged between 0.13 and 0.31 with a mean of 0.21. Communities
were grouped according to standard deviations from the mean. The most vulnerable communities
(>1.5 standard deviations from mean) were located in the southern portion of the study
area. When the dimension scores were compared for all communities, scores were generally
higher in the susceptibility dimension than in the lack of resilience dimension. Examination
of the indicator scores of individual communities revealed that drivers of vulnerability
vary across the department. Therefore, targeted interventions addressing specific
aspects of vulnerability may be useful. Finally, a predicted vulnerability surface
was created for a 10 km buffer surrounding the Interoceanic Highway in Madre de Dios.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8534Citation
Cain, Jessica (2014). Community Vulnerability to Malaria in Madre de Dios, Peru. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8534.Collections
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