Abstract:
This meeting report presents the key findings and discussion points of a 3-h virtual workshop, held on 21 September
2022, and organized by the “Resilience Against Future Threats through Vector Control (RAFT)” research consortium.
The workshop aimed to identify priorities for advancing arbovirus research, network and capacity strengthening
in Africa. Due to increasing human population growth, urbanization and global movement (trade, tourism, travel),
mosquito-borne arboviral diseases, such as dengue, Chikungunya and Zika, are increasing globally in their distribution
and prevalence. This report summarizes the presentations that reviewed the current status of arboviruses in
Africa, including: (i) key findings from the recent WHO/Special Programme for Research & Training in Tropical Diseases
(WHO/TDR) survey in 47 African countries that revealed deep and widespread shortfalls in the capacity to cope with
arbovirus outbreak preparedness, surveillance and control; (ii) the value of networking in this context, with examples
of African countries regarding arbovirus surveillance; and (iii) the main priorities identified by the breakout groups on
“research gaps”, “networks” and “capacity strengthening”.
Description:
AVAILABILITY OF DATA AND MATERIALS : The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available
from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
This virtual workshop, organized by the Malaria Consortium on behalf of the RAFT research consortium, was moderated by Leo Braack with support from Sian Clarke, Jo Lines, Raman Velayudhan, Florence Fouque, Corinne Merle, Kallista Chan, Poe Poe Aung and Shobiechah Wulandhari. These findings have now been published and can be accessed here (https://fctc.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240052918). The complete workshop recording can also be accessed here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFUiHyAOKNE&t=12s&ab_channel=MalariaConsortium).