Alumni webinar #3 Prize for Global Research 2024 - Victor Vega Zambrano

This new alumni webinars series features the four ITM winners of the Prize for Global Research. The Prize is awarded yearly by the Province of Antwerp to research projects of ‘master-after-master’ students of ITM and other Higher Education Institutes. Development relevance, quality and originality of the master theses are key in the selection. Through this award, the Province of Antwerp wants to stimulate global research.

In webinar #3, MPH alumnus and laureate Victor Vega Zambrano (Peru) shares insights from his master's thesis, entitled 'Spatial scales matter: A methodological exploration of spatial scales in public health research applied to urban tuberculosis'. In his thesis, Victor aimed to develop an approach for appropriate identification and selection of spatial scales for disease control and research using urban TB as an example. In the biomedical and public health literature, Victor found a lack of frameworks aligned with his aim. However, in the field of geography, he found useful elements to develop a framework applicable to public health which includes process, observational, geographical and policy scales. The scoping review revealed the frequent use of neighbourhoods as observation scale for TB in cities and the lack of justification of the selected scale. He concluded that the inappropriate choice of spatial scales can hide health inequities and lead to missed opportunities for improved policy decisions. In this webinar, Victor will present the main findings and outcomes of his thesis, and discuss his recommendations and conclusion.

The Q&A session is moderated by his thesis supervisor Tine Verdonck. The purpose of this session is to address questions from the audience and to exchange experiences from other contexts.

This webinar has passed. You can find the recording down below.