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VECTRI Introduction

1.1 History

VECTRI was created when Adrian Tompkins, originally a tropical cloud/convection scientist, joined an EU project on climate impacts on health.

  • The main malaria model in that project (LMM – Liverpool Malaria Model) assumed a fixed human population of 100 people per grid box and distributed only an executable, not source code.

After questioning how such a model could represent rural vs. urban differences – where population density is critical – Tompkins was told:

"If you want a code you can play with, why don't you just write one yourself?"

With colleague Volker Ermert providing literature guidance, Tompkins implemented process relationships for vector-borne disease transmission. After ~4 weeks of intense coding, VECTRI v1.0 was born and released as an open-source community model.

1.2 What VECTRI is

From the docs:

  • A gridded, climate-driven model that focuses on mosquito life-cycle dynamics.
  • Supports multiple Anopheles and Aedes species (one vector at a time).
  • Currently only malaria is represented as a disease (for Anopheles vectors).
  • Can run from continental scales down to roughly 1 km resolution.
  • Designed to be fast: uses 1st-order accurate solvers, accepting some numerical approximation because process and parameter uncertainties dominate.
  • Can also be run for single locations (points).
  • Fully open source: users are encouraged to read, modify and improve the code and to contribute back.

1.3 What VECTRI is not

Also from the docs:

  • Not a fully supported "product", research tool provided as-is by a small team. It needs comprehensive calibration and validation.
  • Interventions (bednets, SIT) are present but not as extensively validated as in dedicated operational tools like OpenMalaria.
  • Simulates primarily climate impacts on malaria; therefore, predicted clinical case numbers can exceed observations because routine health system effects (treatment, health-seeking behaviour, many control measures) are not fully represented.
  • Not a "point-and-click" GUI: it is a Fortran90 + bash tool that assumes basic Linux familiarity.
  • Not guaranteed to be always up-to-date with a GUI or Python wrapper; those are aspirational, but core science developments take priority.

1.4 Further reading

VECTRI documentation is evolving. The upstream manual (including the HTML docs) is stored inside the same git repository as the model. This training course builds on:

  • The VECTRI online documentation at VECTRI

  • The PDF manual VECTRI_manual_v1.6.pdf VECTRI PDF manual: Introductory sections describing motivation and history.

📝 Test Your Knowledge

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