Last week we hosted a two-day workshop on improving surveillance capacity for diseases spread by mosquitoes with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the International Society of Disease Surveillance (ISDS). ISDS’s mission of bringing ideas to actions with measurable impact on public health practice, helped our Office of Infectious Disease Services to develop new ways to better inform our response to dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses.
The attendees learned about aspects of mosquito and human surveillance for diseases spread by mosquitoes. They heard how different academic projects have used similar data to develop maps showing areas at greater risk of mosquito-borne disease transmission. The group discussed how these tools can be applied to our local needs in Arizona.
The meeting was extremely productive for everyone involved and identified the next steps to use data more effectively to inform public health action. State and local stakeholders were inspired by what their data can achieve, and academic attendees felt motivated to use their skills to improve control and prevention methods on the ground. This event also helped to foster future collaborations with experts from universities around the U.S. to work together to fight the bite and keep Arizonans safe.
