Notre approche
Citizen Science: Community-centred, scientifically driven
Our approach is rooted in a simple but powerful idea: the people most affected by snail-borne diseases should be part of the solution. That’s why we embed citizen science into our work, bringing together local community members with experts from different fields, including medicine, anthropology, ecology, epidemiology, and communication. By working side by side, community members and scientists co-create knowledge and co-design disease control interventions.
To achieve this, we train and equip local community members in Uganda and DRC to observe and report the presence of vectors (freshwater snails and mosquitoes), the environmental conditions that support them and risky water practices taking place. The data they generate helps develop high-resolution risk maps of potential transmission sites and raise awareness.
But citizen science in ATRAP goes beyond data collection. The local community members, also called citizen scientists, lead awareness campaigns, organise educational events, and share best practices for preventing infection. This ensures that information is tailored to the local context, trusted and widely shared, laying the foundation for sustainable long-term impact.
Key elements of our approach
Community-led efforts
ATRAP places affected communities at the centre of disease prevention efforts by training local residents to actively contribute to scientific research questions as citizen scientists. Through this approach, community members are equipped with the skills and tools to investigate health risks, develop local solutions and drive meaningful change. With this approach, ATRAP recognises community members as essential partners rather than passive recipients.
Health education and awareness
The local community members trained by ATRAP (citizen scientists) are not just collecting data, they also lead efforts to educate others in their communities. As trusted members of their communities, often connected through kinship and social ties, they communicate prevention messages in ways that reasonate with local traditions, langauges and practices.
Multistakeholder engagement
ATRAP doesn't work in isolation, we work closely with a wide range of local partners, including academic institutions, health agencies, government officials and NGOs to co-design and implement scientifc research that reflects community needs and priorities. This ensures that the research is both contextually relevant and supported by key stakeholders.
