Mosquito-Borne Disease Prevention in Africa- Network (MosquitoNET)

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Sub-Saharan Africa is characterized by a great mosquito-borne disease burden as well as by the weakest public health infrastructure in the world. One of the key challenges that our proposal aims to tackle is to use digital technologies to combine surveillance and epidemic preparedness and response activities for priority mosquito-borne diseases. The infrastructure and level of support for surveillance, research and training on emerging infectious diseases in Africa are limited and our initiative is directly relevant to developing the necessary tools to accelerate these efforts. The MosquitoNet partnership brings together researchers, industry, NGOs, policymakers and practitioners to develop digital solutions to development challenges caused by mosquito-borne diseases. The Network consists of a diverse group of experts and stakeholders from the UK and countries in sub-Saharan Africa, combining local expertise and experience with some of the latest digital innovations, to address current gaps and develop the regional capability for detection and response to mosquito-borne diseases. Digitally-based technologies such as satellite data and communications, mobile phones, apps, tablets, telemedicine, 3D printing and medical drones can provide digital solutions which mostly by-pass traditional infrastructures or national regulations and cost less than the usual medical equipment. MosquitoNET will propose the development of digital technologies aiming to improve the reporting, monitoring and controlling of mosquito-borne disease, but also to incorporate aspects of health communications and managed healthcare for remote communities. This will cover the following areas:- Forecasting and warning of MBDs using freely available earth observation data and satellite-based weather forecasts;- Use of mobile phones to collect near real-time information on the outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases;- Satellite-navigated drones to deliver medicines and diagnostic kits for mosquito-borne diseases; - Telemedicine tools to enable the communication and sharing of medical information.The vision for MosquitoNET is to see emerging and new digital innovations make a substantial impact in mosquito-borne diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa.