The extensive networks of frequent population mobility in the Samoan Islands and their implications for infectious disease transmission

Xu, Zhijing, Lau, Colleen L., Zhou, Xiouyan, Fuimaono, Saipale, Soares Magalhães, Ricardo J., and Graves, Patricia M. (2018) The extensive networks of frequent population mobility in the Samoan Islands and their implications for infectious disease transmission. Scientific Reports, 8. 10136.

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Abstract

Population mobility has been demonstrated to contribute to the persistent transmission and global diffusion of epidemics. In the Pacific Islands, population mobility is particularly important for emerging infectious diseases, disease elimination programs, and diseases spread by close contact. The extent of population mobility between American Samoa villages, Samoa districts and other countries was investigated based on travel data collected during community surveys in American Samoa in 2010 and 2014. Within American Samoa, workers commuted daily across the whole of the main island of Tutuila, with work hubs drawing from villages across the island. Of the 670 adult workers surveyed, 37% had traveled overseas in the past year, with 68% of trips to Samoa. Of children aged 8–13 years (n = 337), 57% had traveled overseas, with 55% of trips to Samoa. An extensive network of connections between American Samoa villages and Samoa districts was demonstrated, with most trips lasting one week to one month. Our study showed that populations in the Samoan islands are highly mobile, and quantified the extent and destinations of their travels. Our findings offer insight into the impact of population mobility on the transmission of infectious diseases and data to refine existing models of disease transmission in the Pacific islands.

Item ID: 57857
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2045-2322
Copyright Information: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Funders: Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM), James Cook University, University of Queensland (UQ), National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre Of Research Excellence (CRE), National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Projects and Grants: AITHM grant 13122014, UQ grant 2127835, NHMRC Fellowship 1109035
Date Deposited: 01 May 2019 02:35
FoR Codes: 32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES > 3202 Clinical sciences > 320211 Infectious diseases @ 33%
42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4202 Epidemiology > 420299 Epidemiology not elsewhere classified @ 34%
45 INDIGENOUS STUDIES > 4516 Pacific Peoples health and wellbeing > 451616 Pacific Peoples social determinants of health @ 33%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9204 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) > 920404 Disease Distribution and Transmission (incl. Surveillance and Response) @ 100%
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