Email  bimandra.djaafara@nus.edu.sg

Dr. Bimandra Djaafara is an infectious disease epidemiologist and mathematical modeller at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. His research focuses on using data and models to support infectious disease control programmes in Indonesia and other low- and middle-income countries, with work spanning COVID-19 response, malaria and dengue control, measles elimination modelling, and outbreak response. He is particularly interested in drawing on diverse data sources, including routine surveillance, population surveys, and mobile phone data, to generate evidence that can inform public health policy and practice. Alongside his research, he works closely with Indonesia’s Ministry of Health and local health departments in Indonesia, and is passionate about building epidemiological modelling capacity across the region.

• NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health

• Infectious disease modelling
• Dengue
• Malaria
• Vaccine-preventable diseases

• BSc in Statistics, Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia (2012)
• MSc in Epidemiology (infectious disease modelling stream), Imperial College London, UK (2016)
• MRes in Biomedical Research (epidemiology, evolution, and control of infectious disease stream), Imperial College London, UK (2019)
• PhD in Epidemiology, Evolution, and Control of Infectious Disease, Imperial College London, UK (2023)

• Wellcome Data Science Ideathon Bronze Prize (with Team InfecTech), Wellcome Trust (2023)
• MORU-OUCRU Discovery Research Academy (MODRA) cohort 2 (2025)

• Research Associate, MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Imperial College London, UK (2023-2024)
• Statistician, Eijkman-Oxford Clinical Research Unit, Indonesia (2014-2018)

• Djaafara BA, Elyazar IRF, Silalahi FSM, Surya A, Handito A, Thohir B, et al. Dengue transmission heterogeneity across Indonesia’s archipelago: Climate-driven spatiotemporal patterns and policy implications. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2026;20:e0014135. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0014135
• Djaafara BA, Adrian V, Eriawati E, Elyazar IRF, Hamers RL, Baird JK, et al. Modeling the transmission dynamics and control strategies during the 2017 diphtheria outbreak in Jakarta, Indonesia. Infectious Disease Modelling 2026;11:1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idm.2025.08.004
• Djaafara BA, Elyazar IRF, Surya A, Silalahi FSM, Handito A, Aryani D, et al. Estimating dengue force of infection from age-stratified surveillance data in Java, Indonesia. J R Soc Interface 2025;22. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2025.0445
• Djaafara BA, Mutunga M, Eneanya OA, Forna A, Cucunubá ZM. The bridge between two worlds: Global South researchers’ journeys through Global North academic training and beyond. Epidemics 2025;53:100864. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epidem.2025.100864
• Djaafara BA, Sherrard-Smith E, Churcher TS, Fajariyani SB, Prameswari HD, Herdiana H, et al. Spatiotemporal heterogeneity in malaria transmission across Indonesia: analysis of routine surveillance data 2010–2019. BMC Med 2025;23. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-025-03902-9
• Surendra H, Djaafara BA, Prameswari HD, Supriyanto D, Waluyo P, Basuki SB, et al. Mitigating risks of malaria and other vector-borne diseases in the new capital city of Indonesia. Nat Commun 2024;15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54891-x
• Djaafara BA, Whittaker C, Watson OJ, Verity R, Brazeau NF, Widyastuti, et al. Using syndromic measures of mortality to capture the dynamics of COVID-19 in Java, Indonesia, in the context of vaccination rollout. BMC Med 2021;19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-021-02016-2
• Djaafara BA, Imai N, Hamblion E, Impouma B, Donnelly CA, Cori A. A Quantitative Framework for Defining the End of an Infectious Disease Outbreak: Application to Ebola Virus Disease. American Journal of Epidemiology 2020;190:642–51. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwaa212
• Johnson, R, Djaafara, BA, Haw, D, Doohan, P, Forchini, G, Pianella, M, Ferguson, N, Smith, PC and Hauck, KD. (2023). The societal value of SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccination in Indonesia. Vaccine, 41(11), pp.1885-1891. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.01.068
• Fadilah, I, Djaafara, BA, Lestari, KD, Fajariyani, SB, … & Elyazar, IR. (2022). Quantifying spatial heterogeneity of malaria in the endemic Papua region of Indonesia: analysis of epidemiological surveillance data. Lancet Reg Health Southeast Asia, p.100051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lansea.2022.100051
• Whittaker, C, Walker, PGT, Alhaffar, M, Hamlet, A, Djaafara, BA, Ghani, A, … & Watson, OJ. (2021). Under-reporting of deaths limits our understanding of true burden of covid-19. BMJ, 375. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2239
• Djaafara, BA, Whittaker, C, Watson, OJ, Verity, R, Brazeau, NF, Oktavia, D, … & Walker, PGT. (2021). Using syndromic measures of mortality to capture the dynamics of COVID-19 in Java, Indonesia, in the context of vaccination rollout. BMC Med, 19(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-021-02016-2
• Djaafara, BA, Imai, N, Hamblion, E, Impouma, B, Donnelly, CA, & Cori, A. (2021). A quantitative framework for defining the end of an infectious disease outbreak: application to Ebola virus disease. Am J Epidemiol, 190(4), 642-651. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwaa212
• Surendra, H, Elyazar, IRF, Djaafara, BA, Ekawati, LL, Saraswati, K, Adrian, V, … & Hamers, RL. (2021). Clinical characteristics and mortality associated with COVID-19 in Jakarta, Indonesia: a hospital-based retrospective cohort study. Lancet Reg Health West Pac, 9, 100108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanwpc.2021.100108