Makerere Researchers Call for Cross-Disciplinary Alliance to Prepare for Emerging Vector-Borne Diseases

Researchers and Scientists from Makerere University and the world, have called for a cross-disciplinary alliance to identify, prepare and prevent emerging vector-borne diseases.

These say that Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) constitute a major challenge facing African healthcare systems and economies and that the novel outbreaks of VBDs in both animals and humans, along with an increased spread of invasive vectors, are anticipated to occur more frequently in the future.

The researchers say that there is also a general lack of knowledge of the key characteristics that allow certain vectors and the diseases they transmit to spread and establish in new, previously disease-free areas in both Africa and Europe.

However, to combat this growing threat, the GLOBE Institute at the University of Copenhagen and the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, along with partners from Europe and Africa including Makerere University, are carrying out a five-year research project (2021-2025) titled “A Cross-Disciplinary Alliance to Identify, PREdict and prePARe for Emerging Vector-Borne Diseases (PREPARE4VBD)”.

Launching the Project at a stakeholders’ engagement workshop at the Centre for Biosecurity and Global Health, CoVAB, Makerere University, Professor Lawrence Mugisha noted that the cross-disciplinary team of researchers were inspired to undertake the project following recent research findings that highlighted the high diversity of ticks, tick burden and numerous diseases transmitted by ticks in Uganda.

“The project is cross-disciplinary involving partners from human and veterinary health, as well as natural and social sciences. Researchers are focusing on three main areas, including the development of new molecular diagnostics technologies, the development of mathematical and statistical models to predict disease outbreaks and spread, and the strengthening of research and surveillance capacity in both Africa and Europe,” Prof Mugisha noted.

He added: “The researchers will also be using a One Health approach, which calls for cross-disciplinary cooperation between various professional groups to tackle the challenges posed by these diseases from a holistic perspective on health in animals, humans, and the environment.”

According to the Project Lead-Professor Anna-Sofie Stensgaard from the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, many countries already have well-established systems for monitoring vector-borne diseases of livestock and humans, respectively. But they often lag behind when it comes to diseases that can jump from animals to humans, so-called zoonoses.

“We need to develop better systems for early detection and early warning when these vectors or the diseases they spread move into new, previously disease-free areas. But the systems should also be able to predict the longer-term change in disease patterns due to e.g. rising temperatures and altered precipitation patterns,” she said.

The PREPARE4VBD framework will enable the integration of different existing and novel data on zoonotic vector-borne diseases and tools to; Build knowledge of neglected tick, mosquito and snail-borne VBDs of importance for animal and human health in endemic African countries, assess their capacity to adapt and spread to new areas using a holo-genomics approach and climate change impact modelling, Supported by novel diagnostic tools for new and rapid VBD discoveries and model-based surveillance for early warning, among others.