Christina Mergenthaler
- Department
- Epidemiology
- Title
- Epidemiologist
- Phone
- +31 20 568 8564
- c.mergenthaler@kit.nl
- Visit LinkedIn profile
Christina Mergenthaler has been working as an epidemiologist at KIT since 2016. Prior to this she obtained her Master’s degree in Public Health in infectious disease epidemiology at Yale University, and she is currently registered as an external PhD candidate with the University of Amsterdam.
Her earlier experience includes working as a technical officer for the tuberculosis (TB ) active case-finding (ACF) initiative secretariat TB REACH within the Stop TB Partnership, and a laboratory technician in an immunology lab in The Wistar Institute. In her current position at KIT and as part of her PhD, she applies quantitative analysis to TB ACF and TB programmatic data and risk factors to support TB programs in developing geographically targeted treatment coverage interventions. As part of KIT’s Center of Applied Spatial Epidemiology (CASE) she applies spatial analytical techniques to detect and interpret spatial patterns in disease data, and to assess where there are likely to be populations with large unmet needs for accessing health screening and laboratory diagnostic services.
Projects
Publications
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Assessing the impact of COVID-19 management on the workload of human resources working in India’s National Tuberculosis Elimination Program
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Research article
In 1993, WHO declared tuberculosis (TB) as a global health emergency considering 10 million people are battling TB, of which 30% are undiagnosed annually. In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic took an unprecedented toll on health systems in every country. Public health staff already engaged in TB control and numerous other departments were additionally tasked with […]
- Year of publication
- 2024
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A spatial analysis of TB cases and abnormal X-rays detected through active case-finding in Karachi, Pakistan
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Research article
Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of avoidable deaths from an infectious disease globally and a large of number of people who develop TB each year remain undiagnosed. Active case-finding has been recommended by the World Health Organization to bridge the case-detection gap for TB in high burden countries. Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause […]
- Year of publication
- 2023
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The study of spatial autocorrelation for infectious disease epidemiology decision-making: a systematized literature review
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Research article
In recent years, researchers and decision-makers have increasing access to granular geographically disaggregated health surveillance and programmatic data to improve and optimize public health policy.
- Year of publication
- 2022
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TB Hackathon: Development and Comparison of Five Models to Predict Subnational Tuberculosis Prevalence in Pakistan
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Research article
Pakistan’s national tuberculosis control programme is among the many programmes worldwide that value the importance of subnational tuberculosis (TB) burden estimates to support disease control efforts, but do not have reliable estimates.TB Hackathon: Development and Comparison of Five Models to Predict Subnational Tuberculosis Prevalence in Pakistan. Against this backdrop, the Pakistan NTP partnered with KIT […]
- Year of publication
- 2021
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Factors Affecting the Transition from Paper to Digital Data Collection for Mobile Tuberculosis Active Case Finding in Low Internet Access Settings in Pakistan
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Research article
Between September 2020 and March 2021, Mercy Corps piloted hybrid digital (CAPI) and paper-based (PAPI) data collection as part of its tuberculosis active case finding strategy. Data were collected using CAPI and PAPI at 140 TB chest camps in low Internet access areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces in Pakistan. To assess the feasibility […]
- Year of publication
- 2021
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Completeness of TB notification: inventory studies and capture-recapture analyses, six European Union countries, 2014 to 2016
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Research article
In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the Action Framework towards TB elimination in low-incidence countries, and in 2016, the WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) published the Roadmap to implement the tuberculosis action plan for the WHO European Region 2016-2020: Towards ending TB and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. They outline blueprints to carry out the […]
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Going digital: added value of electronic data collection in 2018 Afghanistan Health Survey
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Research article
Through a nationally representative household survey in Afghanistan, we conducted an operational study in two relatively secure provinces comparing effectiveness of computer-aided personal interviewing (CAPI) with paper-and-pencil interviewing (PAPI).
- Year of publication
- 2021
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The TB REACH Initiative: Supporting TB Elimination Efforts in the Asia-Pacific
After many years of TB ‘control’ and incremental progress, the TB community is talking about ending the disease, yet this will only be possible with a shift in the way we approach the TB response. While the Asia-Pacific region has the highest TB burden worldwide, it also has the opportunity to lead the quest to […]
- Year of publication
- 2020
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Finding gaps in TB notifications
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Research article
In order to effectively combat Tuberculosis, resources to diagnose and treat TB should be allocated effectively to the areas and population that need them. Although a wealth of subnational data on TB is routinely collected to support local planning, it is often underutilized. Therefore, this study uses spatial analytical techniques and profiling to understand and […]
- Year of publication
- 2020
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Finding gaps in TB notifications: spatial analysis of geographical patterns of TB notifications, associations with TB program efforts and social determinants of TB risk in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan
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Article
In order to effectively combat Tuberculosis, resources to diagnose and treat TB should be allocated effectively to the areas and population that need them. Although a wealth of subnational data on TB is routinely collected to support local planning, it is often underutilized. Therefore, this study uses spatial analytical techniques and profiling to understand and […]
- Year of publication
- 2020
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Completeness of tuberculosis (TB) notification: inventory studies and capture-recapture analyses, six European Union countries, 2014 to 2016
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Research article
Progress towards the World Health Organization’s End TB Strategy is monitored by assessing tuberculosis (TB) incidence, often derived from TB notification, assuming complete case detection and reporting. This assumption is unlikely to hold in many settings, including European Union (EU) countries.
- Year of publication
- 2020
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Completeness of TB notification: inventory studies and capture-recapture analyses, six European Union countries, 2014 to 2016
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Research article
Assessing the completeness of TB notification to determine whether national data truly reflects the real TB situation in selected EU Member states.
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Quick Scan: Key Actors in Gender and Mining in the Netherlands and Internationally
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in exploring and working on gender and mining issues in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) as well as in the formal larger-scale mining (LSM) sector. Many international stakeholders have become active in this field, such as the World Bank, and UN Women in particular via its […]
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SPARK | Edition 1
Short Periodical Announcements of Research at KIT This is a short periodical Announcement of Research being done by the Centre of Applied Spatial Epidemiology (Case) team
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A Spatial Analysis Framework to Monitor and Accelerate Progress towards SDG 3 to End TB in Bangladesh
Global efforts to end the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic by 2030 (SDG3.3) through improved TB case detection and treatment have not been effective to significantly reduce the global burden of the TB epidemic. This study presents an analytical framework to evaluate the use of TB case notification rates (CNR) to monitor and to evaluate TB under-detection […]
- Year of publication
- 2018
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Lies, damned lies and epidemiology: why global health needs good epidemiological practice guidelines
Epidemiology is the cornerstone of global health. It shapes policy decisions and evidence-based practice by identifying disease risk factors and preventive healthcare targets. See a report of the Global Myths & Global Risks Public Symposium held at KIT on 18 June 2019! Most epidemiological findings are genuine and make an important contribution to global health, […]
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MATCH: Mapping and Analysis for Tailored Disease Control and Health System Strengthening
Manual This manual is an initiative of the Stop TB partnership, funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and written by the Centre for Applied Spatial Epidemiology (CASE) of KIT Royal Tropical Institute.
Downloads
Other publications
- Rood E, Mergenthaler C, Bakker M, Redwood L, Mitchell E. Using 15 DHS surveys to study epidemiologic correlates of TB courtesy stigma and health seeking behavior. (Submitted to Int J Tuberc Lung Dis, December 2016)
- Wohlleben J, Makhmudova M, Saidova F, Azamova, Mergenthaler C, Verver S. Risk factors associated with loss to follow-up from tuberculosis treatment in Tajikistan: a case-control study. (Submitted to BMC Infectious Diseases, November 2016)
- Sanaie A, Mergenthaler C, Nasrat A, Seddiq MK, Mahmoodi SD, Stevens RH, Creswell J. (2016) An Evaluation of Passive and Active Approaches to Improve Tuberculosis Notifications in Afghanistan. PLoS ONE 11(10): e0163813. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0163813. (Corresponding Author)
- Creswell J, Khowaja S, Codlin A, Hashmi R, Rasheed E, Khan M, Durab I, Mergenthaler C, Hussain O, Khan F, Khan A. (2014) An Evaluation of Systematic Tuberculosis Screening at Private Facilities in Karachi, Pakistan. PLoS ONE 9(4): e93858. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0093858.
- Creswell J, Sahu S, Blok L, Bakker MI, Stevens R, et al. (2014) A Multi-Site Evaluation of Innovative Approaches to Increase Tuberculosis Case Notification: Summary Results. PloS ONE 9(4): e94465. doi:10.1371/journq1`2al.pone.0094465. (Acknowledgement)
- Creswell J, Codlin A, Andre E, Micek M, Bedru A, et al. (2014) Results from early programmatic implementation of Xpert MTB/RIF testing in nine countries. BMC Infectious Diseases 14(2). doi:10.1186/1471-2334-14-2. (Acknowledgement)
- Blok L, Creswell J, Stevens R, Brouwer M, Ramis O, et al. (2014) A pragmatic approach to measuring, monitoring and evaluating interventions for improved tuberculosis case detection. International Health 6(2). doi:10.1093/inthealth/ihu055. (Acknowledgement)
- Mergenthaler C, Bakker M, Blok L, Sahu S, Ramis O, Creswell J. Comparing two years of active case finding results from 11 interventions. PC-455-01. 44th World Conference on Lung Health of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union); 2013 Nov 1; Paris, France.
- Creswell J, Sahu S, Mergenthaler C, Bakker M, Ramis O, Blok L. Early experiences from 33 implementers of Xpert MTB/RIF testing in 18 countries. PC-503-01. 44th World Conference on Lung Health of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union); 2013 Nov 1; Paris, France.