Downing Fellow runs course in Guinea
Dr Charlotte Hammer, Fellow in Emerging Infectious Diseases, has been running a course in Guinea on using a statistical programming tool.
The course was an introduction to using R, a statistical programming environment that allows for the analysis of a variety of data and is becoming more and more prominent as a main tool for epidemiologists.
R is both highly flexible and free, making it particularly attractive to anyone working with budget constraints. However, learning to use R is a steep learning curve, and the support provided by Dr Hammer aimed to make it easier for the project partners to get started in using R.
The course provided an introduction to R that included the installation of the programme and required packages (which hold the tools and commands for specific tasks in R), familiarisation with the working environment and some basic statistics, culminating in the production of a first graph.
This training forms part of a long-term project in Guinea led by the University of Georgetown and Santé Plus, Guinean NGO in which Dr Hammer has been working as an epidemiologist for the last two years.
The project looks at the causes of acute fevers in humans and animals to inform pandemic preparedness and prevention.
Dr Hammer said: “It’s very exciting to see participants going from never having used a programming language to producing their own first graph within a very short time span. I am looking forward to continuing to work with our project partners to enhance their skills in R.”
Published 29 November 2023