Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

The proposed research examines how ecosystem management, carried out in full collaboration with implicated communities, can improve health through elimination of breeding sites for the mosquito that transmits the dengue virus. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which breed in clean standing water, are the main carrier of the four strains of dengue, which can lead to simple dengue fever, more serious dengue haemorrhagic fever, and the life-threatening dengue shock syndrome. An estimated three billion people are currently at risk of dengue fever, based on A. aegypti's tropical distribution. Dengue prevention has increasingly involved community-based projects aimed at eliminating the containers in which mosquitoes breed, including uncovered drinking water containers, used tires, and discarded containers like soft drink bottles and cans. There is still some controversy over the best methods to prevent dengue, and lessons learned in individual research projects are often not incorporated into national or international dengue control initiatives. I therefore propose to systematically review the international literature on dengue control, and arrive at a synthesis of policy-relevant recommendations. Then, I will explore opportunities for incorporating these recommendations into national policy in Ecuador, a country with both a dengue problem and experience with community-based dengue control. It is my goal to extend local-level collaborative processes to inform larger-scale policy by bringing researchers and policymakers together in a forum where exchange of information on dengue control can take place. In theory, this process will promote optimally effective dengue control policies, as well as societally-relevant future dengue research projects, in Ecuador and elsewhere in Latin America.