Dengue, WASH and new models of collaboration in an era of climate change
Climate change has made a great impact on dengue and other vector-borne disease
Technology is now allowing for greater collaboration against the disease
The eBarometer makes dengue data both actionable and participative
This novel approach will be the subject of a panel discussion at the ISNTD Water 2018 conference
As the world’s fastest-growing mosquito-borne viral infection, dengue’s impact today is 30 times greater than it was just 50 years ago. While many factors have driven this dramatic rise, climate change has complicated and amplified every one of the conditions that allow for dengue’s increasing spread. See this article by Break Dengue to understand why.
With the vector finding a hospitable home in parts of the world previously untouched by dengue, the risk of new outbreaks is growing. Responding to this will demand new approaches to vector and disease surveillance, so that the public health community can accurate and swiftly detect outbreaks. The solution will be a collective response to a shared challenge.
Fortunately, novel approaches to using technology are driving changes to how we tackle the burden of dengue. The promising approach being developed by Break Dengue with the eBarometer vector-borne disease surveillance tool is representative of the advances being made.
The eBarometer brings together multiple data sources including traditional epidemiological sources, vector data, search queries, crowd-surveillance from Dengue Track, social media, and potential future sources of data.
The data output is then made actionable for users, both in terms of format and through specific channels to various public health actors allowing all stakeholders in the field to submit their own observed data (confirmed dengue cases, on-site interventions, breeding sites, symptoms, etc.) that will feed back into the eBarometer.
This approach makes data actionable and participative. A more in-depth discussion of how the eBarometer facilitates novel behavior changes in WASH and vector-borne disease management will be the subject of a presentation by Break Dengue program manager Aaron Hoyles at ISNTD Water 2018 on November 15th.
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Aaron Hoyles works as Program Manager of Break Dengue, a non-profit partner and catalyst in incubating and implementing integrated solutions towards the WHO 2020 dengue objectives.
Find out more about Break Dengue and the eBarometer at https://www.breakdengue.org/
