Innovative community-based vector control interventions for improved dengue and Chagas disease prevention in Latin America: introduction to the special issue

Dengue fever and Chagas disease are important public health problems in Latin America. Dengue is a re-emerging viral disease, mainly transmitted by Aedes aegyptii mosquitoes, leading to an increasing number of outbreaks notably in urban areas of the continent. Chagas disease, a parasitic disease transmitted by Triatomine bugs, is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among the continent’s rural poor and persisting in different social-ecological settings. In spite of their epidemiological difference, both are vector-borne neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) for which primary prevention can currently mainly be achieved through vector control. In the case of dengue, routine vector control usually consists of source reduction strategies, including larviciding and/or insecticide space-spraying. However, vertically organized and insecticide-based vector control efforts often lack effectiveness and sustainability, and the need for community-based vector control strategies that include environmental management has been highlighted. With Chagas disease, routine interventions are usually based on insecticide spraying to eliminate household infestation. With a focus on domestic transmission, the peridomestic transmission context is often neglected. Current strategies for integrated vector management call for the adaptation of vector control interventions to local vector ecology, epidemiology and resources. Therefore, further insights relevant to specific ecosystems, into transmission dynamics and the possibility of intersectoral ecosystem management programs for dengue and Chagas disease prevention and control are urgently needed. This will play a crucial function in defining locally relevant and appropriate interventions with the prospects for sustainable control of vector populations. This special issue reports findings of a research and capacity building program on innovative community-based vector control interventions for improved dengue and Chagas disease prevention in Latin America. The overall objective of the research initiative was to improve dengue and Chagas disease prevention by better understanding, through multi-level/multi-scale and trans-disciplinary analysis, ecosystem-related, biological and social (‘eco-bio-social’) determinants, and to develop and evaluate community-based public health interventions targeting dengue and Chagas disease vector habitats and delivered through intersectoral actions. The research program was a collaborative effort between the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) and the Ecosystems and Human Health Program of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).