Waterloo professor awarded funding to research foodborne diseases in LMICs

Professor Shannon Majowicz, School of Public Health and Health Systems, in collaboration with PhD candidate Binyam Desta, has received $280,176 to study the importance of food-safety interventions in developing countries.

This research is part of a broader project, led by Professor Tine Hald, Technical University of Denmark, that will study foodborne diseases using a variety of approaches in African low-middle-income countries (LMICs). Together with researchers from the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute, Haramaya University, Mountain Top University, Eduardo Mondlane University, University of Pretoria, and Otago University, Majowicz and Desta will conduct a population survey in four African LMIC partner countries that will shed insight on the incidence and mortality rate of major diarrheal and foodborne diseases. By accurately estimating incidences of foodborne diseases in these partner countries, as well as the percentage if these illnesses captured by health systems, this research project will allow policy makers to prioritize and allocate resources for disease prevention.