VANCOUVER - Mathematics could be the newest weapon in the fight against
HIV-AIDs.
Canadian and African mathematicians, scientists and health officials are
travelling to Kampala, Uganda for a first-of-its-kind meeting next week to
discuss the spread of diseases such as AIDS or tuberculosis.
Researchers hope to create mathematical models to track the transmission of
infectious diseases.
Mathematical modelling will be used to simulate the outbreak of a disease in a
specific area so doctors can test the effectiveness of programs to control and
contain it.
The three-day meeting is being organized by Burnaby, B.C. math research network
MITACS (the Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems) and has
attracted mathematicians from across Canada as well as researchers from
universities in Uganda, Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Nearly 40 million people worldwide, are infected with HIV-AIDs and more than one
million die each year from tuberculosis.
