Fellow:
Chika Felicitas Nnadozie
Collaborators:
Name |
Country |
Institution
|
Dr Chika Felicitas Nnadozie (principal investigator) |
South Africa |
Rhodes University |
Prof Oghenekaro Nelson Odume (mentor) |
South Africa |
Rhodes University |
Ms Khaya Mgaba |
South Africa |
Rhodes University |
Ms Mary Chibwe |
South Africa |
Rhodes University |
Objectives:
(i) To explore the social determinants, including sanitation-related service delivery failure related to Campylobacteriosis risk
(2) To integrate metagenomics and machine learning algorithms (MLA) in order to develop predictive models of risks to human health
occasioned by Campylobacter species contamination of source water
(3) To investigate ecological drivers of the persistence of Campylobacter species in contaminated source water
and relate these to risk and poverty mapping in the selected study areas
(4)To integrate the outcomes of objectives 1-3 into a comprehensive risk assessment framework
Sites:
Study area A: Kowie River in Makana Municipality, Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The Makana Local Municipality Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa supports about 80 390 people. Unlike the NMBM, there are a limited number of employment opportunities available in the cities particularly Grahamstown of the Makana Local Municipality. There is a high level of poverty within the area, with up to 42% of the households without income compared to NMBM.The lack of revenue collection restricts the Municipality from providing local service delivery and Infrastructure such as wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) breakdown. This problem of infrastructure breakdown has resulted in health threatening sewage spills, water shortages, and refuses removal failure. Most of the sewage flow into the Kowie River, which is in Grahamston, a town in Makana Local Municipality.
Study Area B: Swartkops River in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM), , Eastern Cape province of South Africa. NMBM supports about 1.2 million people. NMBM encompasses the city of Port Elizabeth and the towns of Uitenhage and Despatch. As the industrial hub of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, there are higher employment rates and access to municipal services. The increasing population and industrial activities have led to the serious pollution of the Swartkops River. The Swartkops River is a popular ecological and social cultural asset and is located within the industrial city of Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage town. The pollution results from burst sewerage pipes, residents dumping in the canal, open canal flows through Motherwell stormwater canal and overloaded Kelven Jones wastewater treatment works.
Study Design:
This project will combine multiple
approaches: Next generation sequencing, machine learning algorithms, microbial ecology, and risk mapping to attempt an integrated study of
Campylobacteriosis-a key PRD in South African urban freshwater environments
Subjects:
TMA2020CDF-3166
Outcomes:
(i)A most important outcome of this project is the protocol development, risk assessment framework
(ii)Publications
(iii) Msc Thesis
(iv)Phd progress report
(v)Workshops
(vi) Beyond the lifespan of the project, I intend to use workshops to disseminate the risk framework and metagenomics-MLA protocol developed
in this project.