Geographers at the University have completed a large scale data and mapping project to track the flow of internal human migration in low and middle income countries.
Researchers from the WorldPop project at the University have, for the first time, mapped estimated internal migration in countries across three continents; Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Professor Andy Tatem, Director of WorldPop, comments:
“Understanding how people are moving around within countries is vital in combating infectious diseases like malaria. The parasite which causes the disease can be quickly reintroduced to a malaria free area by highly mobile populations.”
Working with colleagues at the Flowminder Foundation with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the researchers used census micro-data (anonymised census information at the individual level) to model estimates of migration flows within countries, producing a series of maps to represent the data. The research paper ‘Mapping internal connectivity through human migration in malaria endemic countries’ published in Scientific Data details the methods they employed, and presents the freely available data.
Lead author Dr Alessandro Sorichetta from the University says:
“We sourced the census data from around 40 different countries and have produced detailed population migration maps on a scale not seen before. They show webs of connectivity within countries – indicating high and low flows of people moving between different locations.”
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