WHO Vector Borne Disease Operational Readiness Workshop, 15-17 October 2019, Sofia, Bulgaria

WHO regional office for Europe organized a three days workshop for Vector borne disease operational readiness: Lessons learned from West Nile Virus response in WHO European Region at Sofia, Bulgaria, 15-17/ October of 2019.

In this event, 74 representatives from 18 countries and invited experts participated.

Two members of the EMCA were officially invited as experts for vector control: Dr. Spiros Mourelatos and Dipl. Biol. Sandra Gewehr from Greece. Mr. Mourelatos made a presentation about “Mosquito control operators in Europe”, which can be found here.

After a series of presentations, the principal component of the agenda of this workshop was the sharing of experiences between the stakeholders from different countries within five working groups:

1. Risk communication
2. Case detection and management
3. Vector control
4. Legislation / Intersectoral coordination
5. Surveillance

The expected outcomes of the meeting are the following

• Understanding of the issues and challenges to vector-borne disease surveillance, prevention, preparedness and control in the Region;
• Recommendations for elements to be included in contingency plans for West Nile virus, and other vector borne diseases;
• Highlight the importance of vector-borne diseases on the health agenda;
• To build a network of experienced vector-borne disease prevention and control specialists to provide support to affected countries and areas and take forward the vector borne disease prevention and control agenda in the region with cross border collaboration.