The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) is combining efforts with the
Ministry of Health in St. John’s to fight the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.
This effort forms part of the CARPHA rollout, of the regionally approved
Integrated Public Health Surveillance Strategy, across its Members States.
Under one of the priority areas for this strategy, CARPHA is seeking to build
capacity in Vector Borne Disease surveillance. CARPHA has partnered with the
Ministry of Health, Wellness, and the Environment in Antigua and Barbuda, to
further build capacity in the control of mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases,
using exciting new Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology.
Vector control staff were trained in using an electronic tablet-based GIS system to
do premises inspections. This will replace the older, outdated paper-based
inspection forms and modernize the operations of the vector control unit. This
field-based GIS is coupled with desktop GIS systems to do advanced
spatiotemporal analyses for health trends.
The overall objective of the training is to improve the Ministry’s ability to detect,
target, and respond to areas with high levels of mosquito infestation and thereby
significantly reduce the risk of arboviral disease outbreaks (e.g., Dengue) in
Antigua and Barbuda.
It is expected that the implementation of these new technologies will greatly
enhance the Integrated Vector Management (IVM) Strategy for the country and
provide better real-time, evidence-based, targeted vector control operations.
This GIS training was facilitated by Mr. Rajesh Ragoo – Senior Technical Officer,
Vector Borne Diseases Unit, and Ms. Jenna Indarsingh – CariVecNet Coordinator,
CARPHA. Funding for this training is provided in part through the 11th European
Development Fund (EDF) Zika and Other Mosquito-Borne Diseases Project.
