Motivation
Vector-borne diseases are spread mostly by bloodsucking insects. Over the last two decades, Venezuela has entered a deep socioeconomic and political crisis. Once recognised as a regional leader for public health and vector control, Venezuela's healthcare and health research infrastructure has fallen into a state of collapse. The 'Vector-borne disease control in Venezuela Network' (VeConVen Network) will support Venezuelan and regional vector-borne disease research, develop approaches to address vector-borne disease control in challenging settings, and provide training for Venezuelan early career researchers to rebuild local research capacity.
Aims
1) Establish a regional centre for our GCRF VeConVen Network at the Centre for Research on Health in Latin America (CISeAL), Quito, Ecuador to monitor the status of vector-borne disease (VBD) in relation to the Venezuela crisis and spillover in the region.
2) Establish collaborative working groups on cross-cutting themes relevant to regional VBD control:
-
Epidemiology and control of dipteran vectors.
-
Integrated VBD surveillance and reporting.
-
Community-led VBDs surveillance and control.
-
VBDs control and conflict.
-
Health policy and interface with governmental and non-governmental actors.
3) Identify knowledge gaps and recruit new members to the network accordingly.
4) Conduct workshops and meetings aimed at graduate and post-graduate researchers training, researcher-researcher interactions and non-academic stakeholder and user engagement.
5) Project identification and grant writing for future collaborative initiatives among network members.
