Bushra Khalid

Bushra Khalid works on developing a dynamic disease predictive model with the aim to highlight the disease hotspots and their causing factors to inform end users and policy makers to take mitigation measures in the vulnerable regions.

Physical parameters such as change in weather patterns affect the human health by alteration in the geographic range and seasonality of infectious and vector borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever which peaks in warmer and wet months. The evidence of overall burden of human illness related to physical parameters is small but the changes in weather are hypothesized which affect the occurrence of heat-related diseases, spread of infectious disease, and population displacement of different species. The changes in the society, biology, ecology and epidemiology occur with the change in atmospheric physics that also affect the spread and prevalence of infectious diseases.

Bushra Khalid's current study intends to demonstrate an empirical approach to classify the most suitable areas for dengue incidence based on multiple physical factors. At the first step, the solar irradiance is being considered as one factor among others that may be effective in dengue fever transmission. The intensity of solar irradiance changes with urbanization and socio-economic activities in a region. The dengue incidence is being correlated with solar irradiance intensity at city level using remote sensing tools. Later, different statistical methods are being applied to validate the results. It is necessary to focus the similar factors at different spatial and temporal levels. 

Bushra Khalid finished her PhD in Meteorology from COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Pakistan in 2015. Before joining IIASA she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), China, in the International Centre for Climate and Environment Sciences (ICCES), researching the impacts of climate change on health. She is an associated member of scientist’s community at The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Italy and received the ‘Gro Brundtland Award’ for professional performance in sustainable development & public health among young female scientists in 2016.

More information

Funding: IIASA Postdoctoral Program

Nationality: Pakistani

Program: World Population & Evolution and Ecosystems Programs

Dates: February 2017 – November 2019


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Last edited: 18 February 2019

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Postdoctoral research at IIASA

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
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