Operationalizing The Global Arbovirus Initiative

The World Health Organization will launch a Global Arbovirus Initiative soon. This Initiative focuses on Aedes-borne arboviral diseases and aims to strengthen the coordination, communication, capacity-building, and preparedness/response necessary to mitigate the growing risk of epidemics due to arboviral diseases. 2019 witnessed a significant dengue epidemic in over 50 countries. This initiative is an effort to encourage countries to build the necessary infrastructure and utilise the platforms created during the current pandemic.
With increased urbanization, climate/environmental change and insecticide resistance among these vectors, the threat of arboviral diseases spread by Aedes has raised the question of the adequate capacity of health systems to detect, prevent, and respond to outbreaks quickly and efficiently. This challenge can only be addressed through an understanding of the existing capacity of countries for arboviral disease surveillance (epidemiological and entomological) for disease control and identification of the countries that require capacity strengthening in these areas. Efforts to prevent and control arboviral diseases include epidemiological surveillance with detection and clinical management of cases and entomological surveillance and control of vectors. Given the relevance and threat of arboviral diseases in countries in all parts of the world, this presentation highlights the key points to be considered to address this problem in the coming years.