A study, which started as one of the MACC service chain development examples, has now led to a well-received publication on meningitis. Carlos Pérez García-Pando and co-authors have shown the usefulness of dust aerosol climatologies to predict part of the year-to-year variability of the seasonal incidence of meningitis at both national and district levels in Niger. Statistical models can provide an early-season alert that wind, dust and other conditions are potentially conducive to an meningitis epidemic, which can support the planning for needed treatment.
The full article can be found in Environmental Health Perspectives.
More information can also be found at International Research Institute for Climate and Society and Astrobiology Magazine.