Originally published on May 31, 2010
Principal Investigators Jerry Spiegel (UBC School of Population and Public Health), Jaime Breilh (Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar, Ecuador) and Efrain Beltrán (Universidada Técnica de Machala), are meeting capacity-building and scaling-up challenges to sustainably prevent and control Dengue Fever in Machala, Ecuador.
The project aims to evaluate the effectiveness, cost and acceptability of an Eco-Bio-Social approach to controlling and preventing Dengue in Ecuador, in comparison to traditional insecticide-based control programs. Dengue is a neglected mosquito-borne viral disease, for which there is no vaccine. The Eco-Bio-Social approach includes a school-based anti-dengue education campaign, a safe water storage and clean patio community campaign and anti-dengue community workshops. Universidad Andina de Simon Bolivar will collaborate with UBC, BCCDC and the Universidad Tecnica de Machala to undertake this project funded by the WHO TDR Special Programme for Research on Diseases of Poverty.
Kendra Foster, a UBC PhD student has received a 3 year Best & Banting graduate scholarship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to Work on the project for her dissertation.