Developing the COVID-19 response for vulnerable communities in Tamil

Dr. Madelon L. Finkel, professor of clinical population health sciences and director of the Office of Global Health Education, is among a small group of researchers who have been awarded a grant from the Global Challenges Research Fund and Scottish Funding Council. Their study, “Developing the COVID-19 response for vulnerable communities in Tamil,” is designed to collect vital evidence on the prevalence of the coronavirus in rural, poor areas of Vellore and Tamil Nadu, India. Dr. Finkel’s research team aims to better understand the spread of the novel virus in areas where social distancing is almost impossible. It is one of the first studies to quantify the burden of disease at this point in time in a very vulnerable part of the world.