In the basic deterministic SIR model, all susceptible individuals in a population are subject to the same risks of infection. However, there are many important infectious diseases where certain groups of the population account for a disproportionate amount of transmission: these are not always the same groups that bear the greatest amount of morbidity and mortality. In this module, you will examine how to model infections for which such ‘population structure’ plays an important role in the transmission dynamics.

Many important diseases are not directly transmitted between hosts, but depend on ‘vectors’ to pass infection between hosts, for example biting insects. It is important to be able to extend the modelling approaches you have studied so far to capture these more complex forms of natural history. In this module, you will learn some of the basic approaches to modelling vector-borne diseases, including the Ross-McDonald model, which is a framework that provides an important foundation for such diseases.

Even if you are not designing and simulating mathematical models in future, it is important to be able to critically assess a model, to appreciate its strengths and weaknesses, and to identify how it could be improved. One way of gaining this skill is to conduct a critical peer review of a modelling study in the position of a reviewer evaluating it for publication in a journal. This module is reserved for the completion of your assignment - for you to apply the knowledge and skills you've developing throughout this specialisation.