Atlas home || Conferences | Abstracts | about Atlas

Society for Mathematical Biology Conference
July 30 - August 2, 2008
Centre for Mathematical Medicine, Fields Institute
Toronto, Canada

Organizers
Organizing Committee: S.Sivaloganathan-Chair(Waterloo), M.Kohandel (Waterloo), I.Pressman(Carleton), F.Skinner(Toronto Western Research Inst.), H. Zhu(York)

View Abstracts
Conference Homepage

Population Behaviour towards Voluntary BCG Vaccination Policies
by
Schehrazad Selmane
University of Sciences and Technology of Algiers

Mathematical models that take into account the interplay between human behaviour, economics, and disease ecology may be more useful in understanding the dynamics and spread of diseases than models that rely on epidemiology alone. The transmission and control of infectious disease is strongly influenced by how people make choices, both individually and collectively, when presented with opportunities to engage in preventive actions or to use preventive health care services. The effectiveness of the TB vaccine in preventing TB is controversial; studies have shown variable efficacy. Game theory is used to analyze population behaviour towards voluntary BCG vaccination policies. Such an approach allows quantifying how risk perception influences expected vaccine uptake and coverage levels. The threshold in perceived relative risk is computed from the basic reproduction, computed from a simplified mathematical model for the dynamics of tuberculosis with vaccination.

PDF

Date received: March 12, 2008


Copyright © 2008 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # cawd-17.