Prof. Thumbi Mwangi

Biography

Thumbi Mwangi is an infectious disease epidemiologist combining classical epidemiology, applied epidemiological modelling and data science to improve the speed and quality of policy decision making in human and animal health. His research program conducts population-based studies, statistical and mathematical tools to understand the epidemiology, optimize surveillance and control of zoonotic diseases.

His current research includes:
    - implementation research for the elimination of dog-mediated human rabies
      - optimal use and placement of primary healthcare services
        - improvement of essential health services
          - syndromic surveillance for early detection of zoonotic spillover
            - transmission and control of animal and human brucellosis
              - livestock interventions for improvement of human nutritional status
                - transmission dynamics and control of SARS-CoV2 in Kenya
                  - analytics and epidemiological modelling to support elimination of preventative chemotherapy Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) in Africa, working in collaboration with the NTD modelling consortium

                  He serves as the Chair of the National Technical Committee on Modelling advising the Kenya government on COVID-19 responses, member of the National Rabies Elimination Coordination Committee charged with oversight of the implementation of the rabies elimination strategy for Kenya, and member of Kenya’s Zoonotic Technical Working Group. Internationally, he is a member of the Africa CDC COVID-19 modelling group, member of the Technical Review Committee of the African Union Africa Risk Capacity - epidemics and outbreaks program. He has served as a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) rabies modelling consortium, and a member of WHO Rabies Expert Group that reviewed and updated the current WHO rabies guidelines.

                  His research has been funded by the:
                    - Wellcome Trust
                      - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
                        - World Health Organization
                          - UK Global Challenges Research Fund
                            - Kenya National Research Fund
                              - Paul G Allen Family Foundation
                                - UK Medical Research Council
                                  - Scottish Funding Council
                                    - USAID
                                      - Sanofi Pasteur
                                        - the German Research Foundation.

Other Titles

- Associate Professor, Washington State University Paul G Allen School for Global Health
- Chancellor’s Fellow, University of Edinburgh
- Affiliate Fellow, African Academy of Sciences
- Affiliate Fellow South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis

Research Interests

Outbreaks| Primary Health Care | Neglected Tropical Diseases | Epidemiology | Data Science

Recent Publications

2024
Biphasic MERS-CoV Incidence in Nomadic Dromedaries with Putative Transmission to Humans, Kenya, 2022–2023
Elimination of transmission of onchocerciasis (river blindness) with long-term ivermectin mass drug administration with or without vector control in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Strengthening health policy modelling in Africa
Accelerating Progress Towards the 2030 Neglected Tropical Diseases Targets: How Can Quantitative Modeling Support Programmatic Decisions?
Impact of helminth infections on clinical and epidemiological features of microbial infections, and vaccine responses in ruminants: a systematic review.
The evolution of Kenya’s animal health surveillance system and its potential for efficient detection of zoonoses
Molecular characterisation of human rabies in East Africa - a case series report and phylogenetic investigation
Elimination of transmission of onchocerciasis (river blindness) with long-term ivermectin mass drug administration with or without vector control in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Safety and efficacy of toll-like receptor agonists as therapeutic agents and vaccine adjuvants for infectious diseases in animals: a systematic review
2023
Modelling seasonal household variation in harvested rainwater availability: a case study in Siaya County, Kenya
Effect of Phone Text Message Reminders on Compliance with Rabies Post-Exposure Prophylaxis following Dog Bites in Rural Kenya
Addressing child and maternal nutrition: a qualitative study on food prescriptions and proscriptions determining animal source food consumption in rural Kenya
United Against Rabies Forum: The first 2 years. Frontiers in Public health
A global analysis of One Health Networks and the proliferation of One Health collaborations
Conflicting COVID-19 excess mortality estimates
Opportunities for Reproductive Health Programs in the Implementation of Schools Re-Entry Policy on Teenage Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infections: Case of Selected Urban Schools in Kenya
United Against Rabies Forum: The first 2 years
A systematic review of Rift Valley Fever epidemiology 1931–2014
Rabies Elimination in Rural Kenya: Need for Improved Availability of Human Vaccines, Awareness and Knowledge on Rabies and Its Management Among Healthcare Workers
The impact of livestock interventions on nutritional outcomes of children younger than 5 years old and women in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis
The Livestock for Health Study: A Field Trial on Livestock Interventions to Prevent Acute Malnutrition Among Women and Children in Pastoralist Communities in Northern Kenya
World Rabies Day 2023–Is an end to Human Rabies Deaths in Sight?
Ecological and subject-level drivers of interepidemic Rift Valley fever virus exposure in humans and livestock in Northern Kenya
2022
The global burden of Chikungunya fever among children: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis
A call to accelerate an end to human rabies deaths
Impact of traffic congestion on spatial access to healthcare services in Nairobi
Evaluating and mitigating the potential indirect effect of COVID-19 on control programmes for seven neglected tropical diseases: a modelling study
Endemicity of Coxiella burnetii infection among people and their livestock in pastoral communities in northern Kenya
The COVID-19 pandemic and disruptions to essential health services in Kenya: a retrospective time-series analysis
Infectious disease modelling for SARS-CoV-2 in Africa to guide policy: A systematic review
Vaccination of household chickens results in a shift in young children’s diet and improves child growth in rural Kenya
Incidence of chikungunya virus infections among Kenyan children with neurological disease, 2014–2018: A cohort study
The COVID-19 pandemic and disruptions to essential health services in Kenya: a retrospective time-series analysis
United Against Rabies Forum: The One Health Concept at Work
Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in Kenya: a multicentre cohort study
Rabies Elimination in Rural Kenya: Need for Improved Availability of Human Vaccines, Awareness and Knowledge on Rabies and Its Management Among Healthcare Workers
Spatio-temporal patterns of domestic water distribution, consumption and sufficiency: Neighbourhood inequalities in Nairobi, Kenya
Spatio-temporal patterns of domestic water distribution, consumption and sufficiency: Neighbourhood inequalities in Nairobi, Kenya
Sero–epidemiology of brucellosis in people and their livestock: A linked human–animal cross-sectional study in a pastoralist community in Kenya
A spatiotemporal analysis of cattle herd movement in relation to drinking-water sources: implications for Cryptosporidium control in rural Kenya
Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in Kenya: a multicentre cohort study
United Against Rabies Forum: The One Health Concept at Work
Spatio-temporal patterns of domestic water distribution, consumption and sufficiency: Neighbourhood inequalities in Nairobi, Kenya
Sero – epidemiology of brucellosis in people and their livestock: A linked human – animal cross-sectional study in a pastoralist community in Kenya
Effects of changes in short-term human cognition on reported healthcare utilisation
The potential for the double risk of rabies and antimicrobial resistance in a high rabies endemic setting: detection of antibiotic resistance in bacterial isolates from infected dog bite wounds in Uganda
Essential Health Services Data Monitoring, and Evaluation sub-working group. The COVID-19 pandemic and disruptions to essential health services in kenya: a retrospective time-series analysis.
2021
Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in Kenya
Assessing the practicalities of joint snakebite and dog rabies control programs: Commonalities and potential pitfalls
Assessing the practicalities of joint snakebite and dog rabies control programs: Commonalities and potential pitfalls
Using cross-species vaccination approaches to counter emerging infectious diseases
Serological evidence of single and mixed infections of Rift Valley fever virus, Brucella spp. and Coxiella burnetii in dromedary camels in Kenya
Impact of routine Newcastle disease vaccination on chicken flock size in smallholder farms in western Kenya
Carriage of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in a high-density informal settlement in Kenya is associated with environmental risk-factors
The nexus between improved water supply and water-borne diseases in urban areas in Africa: a scoping review
Serological evidence of single and mixed infections of Rift Valley fever virus, Brucella spp. and Coxiella burnetii in dromedary camels in Kenya
Carriage of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in a high-density informal settlement in Kenya is associated with environmental risk-factors.
Carriage of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in a high-density informal settlement in Kenya is associated with environmental risk-factors
The nexus between improved water supply and water-borne diseases in urban areas in Africa: a scoping review
One Health for neglected tropical diseases
Using cross-species vaccination approaches to counter emerging infectious diseases
Impact of livestock interventions on maternal and child nutrition outcomes in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis protocol
2020
Effect of Inter-Observer Variation on the Association between Contamination Hazards and the Microbiological Quality of Water Sources: A Longitudinal Study.
Mortality as the primary constraint to enhancing nutritional and financial gains from poultry: A multi-year longitudinal study of smallholder farmers in western Kenya.
Volunteer based approach to dog vaccination campaigns to eliminate human rabies: Lessons from Laikipia County, Kenya.
IDEAL, the Infectious Diseases of East African Livestock project open access database and biobank.
Reflections on IDEAL: What we have learnt from a unique calf cohort study.
Portable Rabies Virus Sequencing in Canine Rabies Endemic Countries Using the Oxford Nanopore MinION.
One Health education in Kakuma refugee camp (Kenya): From a MOOC to projects on real world challenges.
Rapid in-country sequencing of whole virus genomes to inform rabies elimination programmes.
Comparison of knowledge, attitude, and practices of animal and human brucellosis between nomadic pastoralists and non-pastoralists in Kenya.
Zero human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030: perspectives from quantitative and mathematical modelling
Precision global health: a roadmap for augmented action.
2019
Why isn’t everyone using the thermotolerant vaccine? Preferences for      Newcastle disease vaccines by chicken-owning households in Tanzania
2018
A hundred years of rabies in Kenya and the strategy for eliminating dog-mediated rabies by 2030
Newcastle disease vaccine adoption by smallholder households in Tanzania: Identifying determinants and barriers
A hundred years of rabies in Kenya and the strategy for eliminating dog-mediated rabies by 2030
2017
Seroprevalence and Factors Associated with Coxiella burnetii Infection in Small Ruminants in Baringo County, Kenya
2016
Seroprevalence of respiratory viral pathogens of indigenous calves in  Western Kenya. Research in Veterinary Science
2015
Randomized controlled field trial to assess the immunogenicity and safety of rift valley fever clone 13 vaccine in livestock
2014
Variation and covariation in strongyle infection in East African shorthorn zebu calves. Parasitology, 142(3), 499–511.
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Google Scholar URL
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=D0L9R3QAAAAJ&hl=en