Vector-Borne Diseases stakeholders network mapping
Background
Vector-borne diseases and stakeholders network in Finland
Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) are human illnesses caused by parasites, viruses and bacteria that are transmitted by vectors such as ticks or mosquitoes. In Finland, two different groups of endemic vector-borne diseases (VBDs) are of Public Health relevance: Tick-borne diseases including tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and Lyme disease (LD), more commonly known as borreliosis, and mosquito-borne diseases including Pogosta Disease and Tularaemia.
The distribution of vector-borne diseases depends on multiple different factors, including most notably the causative agent, i.e. pathogen, vector species and host animal, as well as climatic and environmental parameters. Inextricably linked to these biophysical factors are human factors such as socioeconomic, political and cultural variables, as well as the infrastructure of Public Health. This intersection of human, animal and environmental factors forms a socio-ecological system requiring an integrated approach to health management.
For these reasons, knowledge on VBDs is heavily multidisciplinary. In addition, climate change is affecting all these areas differently, making the forecasts of future distribution of VBDs challenging. Considering these facts, the information flow and efficient communication between different stakeholders is a key element in prevention and control of vector-borne diseases in the future. Currently there is no existing network for experts working with vector-borne diseases in Finland and the need for such has been recently been rose.
We are now looking for a skilled master-student from a relevant field to conduct a stakeholders network mapping. The work done during a 6-month internship would create a base for developing a network of experts in Finland.
MOnitoring Outbreaks in a Data science context (the MOOD project)
The stakeholders mappings-project is conducted at the Finnish institute for Health and Welfare(Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos, THL). THL is a partner in the EU Horizon 2020 MOOD-project coordinated by CIRAD (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development) and the internship will be funded by this project.
The H2020 project MOOD aims at developing epidemic intelligence (EI) tools and services for early detection, monitoring and assessment of signals of disease emergence of importance to Europe and European national Public and Veterinary health (PH/VH) agencies. The innovative path of MOOD is based on the integration of user-needs into the development of tools and services for EI derived from better-integrated Big data sources. This user driven development will ensure a more effective integration of the tools and services into the daily EI activities.
As part of this project we will also address local stakeholders’ engagement in epidemic intelligence and risk communication related to vector-borne diseases. In the project we are aiming to conduct individual interviews and participatory workshops with local stakeholder in order to identify how to improve information sharing, management and risk communication both on a local and national level.
Research questions
We aim to explore the perspectives of multidisciplinary interactions amongst stakeholders involved in vectors and VBD management in Finland to gain a better understanding of the general issues regarding data flow and data management. This will be analyzed by exploring the following questions:
- Which stakeholders are involved in vectors and VBD research, surveillance and management? To what extent are they interdisciplinary, multisector and multi-level (geographic and political levels)?
- What knowledge is produced by different institutions? How is this knowledge shared between different actors and stakeholders?
- How is the current management system perceived by the actors and stakeholders? What is their perception of a territory approach to vectors and VBD management and its connection to national-level strategies?
- What kind of data sharing and collaboration the stakeholders are hoping for?
Expected outputs
- Detailed report of VBD stakeholders interactions and recommendations for the implementation of a virtual network of VBD stakeholders
- OR a masters thesis including a detailed report of VBD stakeholders interactions and recommendations for the implementation of a virtual network of VBD stakeholders
- Follow-up meeting : feedback session/Participatory workshop with the actors interviewed
- Potentially peer reviewed scientific publication
Relevant documents related to the project
Bibliography synthesis of an integrated approach to health (PDF 104kb)
Supervision
Primary supervisor:
Henna Mäkelä
Tel. +358 29 524 7488
e-mail: henna.makela(at)thl.fi
Other supervisor:
Timothee Dub
Tel. 358 29 524 6177
e-mail: timothee.dub(at)thl.fi
Scientific supervisors:
Aurelie Binot
aurelie.binot(at)cirad.fr
Iyonna Zortman (deputy)
Iyonna.zortman(at)cirad.fr
