Existing Prevention Mechanisms

What prevention methods are already in place?

• WHO
  • In 2016 the World Health Organizations created a national 5-year strategic plan.
  • Key elements of the plan included:
  • “strengthening the integrated surveillance system;
  • expanding the electronic diseases early warning system;
  • supporting the entomological surveillance system in high risk areas;
  • implementing additional campaigns to control the vector by insecticide spraying;
  • deploying additional human resources to the affected governorates;
  • training physicians on clinical management of dengue and intensifying health education among population.”
    Image illustrating insecticide spraying in Yemen
• WHO Health Clusters
  • According to the 2017 Yemen annual report, these WHO health clusters are “international organizations (INGOs), national non- governmental organizations (NNGOs), affected communities, specialized agencies, academic and training institutes, and UN agencies” (page 12)
  • In 2017 they gave “it facilitated the transportation of 1.5 million bed nets to 76 districts in Yemen.” And also “WHO supported the implementation of an indoor residual spraying campaign which provides protection to 1.3 million people against malaria.” (page 38)
    
    • • Some of their achievements include:
        • health contingency plans prepared for different scenarios such as crises in the north and south, political conflict and non-displaced populations
        • standardized package prepared for primary health care services
        • standardized package prepared for reproductive health, with reporting indicators
        • implementation of the standardized disease reporting formats
      • They also have through “international procurement… emergency health kits, trauma kits and diarrhea disease kits, and local procurement of other urgently needed lifesaving supplies”.
      • These cluster are very useful as they already have areas where can use to access these areas of need. Moreover, since they use grassroots organizations we can move from one controlled government to another.
      • the Dengue vaccine
        • Approved for use in Brazil, Mexico, El Salvador, and the Philippines, with more countries planning to introduce it shortly.
        • “The World Health Organization is still analyzing data concerning the vaccine’s safety, efficacy, dose scheduling, and cost-effectiveness. Trials for this vaccine have shown that it has lower efficacy rates for DENV-1 and DENV-2 serotypes. The vaccine is only available to people living in Dengue endemic areas. There are currently no plans to make it available to travelers.”
    • These clusters are important as they are grassroots movements (when they use people from the community as basis for economic and political movement) and volunteers

Where can we focus?

The coast should be our main concentration as that is where most people live, where there is the highest vulnerability as well as the highest concentration of health facilities.

Where does the money come from?

• WHO has a lot of donors who specifically helps give aid to Yemen
• Donors: http://www.emro.who.int/yem/donors/
• If create a partnership with the WHO we can gain access to these donors to create our solution.

Methods to repel mosquitoes

Obvious ways to repel mosquitoes?

• Clothing (long protecting clothing), lotion (20% Picaridin on exposed skin)
• To build on Danielle’s idea:
  • We could create a box that contains some chemicals/scents that attract mosquitoes. It can also have a bright light (may be solar plane or LED lights) that will also attract the mosquitoes and can be useful for people as well. They may hang these around the house.
• We can create maybe some sort of all ball, bath balls that kills mosquito larvae and can be thrown into standing water in the streets maybe every six months (depending on mosquito cycle)
• Chemical to use? – Ted talk discusses scent of cheese as well
• compounds to protect against insect bites from some plant species that contain insecticidal and/or insect-repellent substances
  https://www.amnh.org/learn-teach/curriculum-collections/young-naturalist-awards/winning-essays2/2009-winning-essays/the-effectiveness-of-botanical-extracts-as-repellents-against-aedes-aegypti-mosquitoes

      

 

References

Bart Knols: 3 new ways to kill mosquitoes | TED Talk. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.ted.com/talks/bart_knols_cheese_dogs_and_pills_to_end_malaria/transcript?language=en

Dengue: Innovative solutions to a global health issue | IAMAT. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.iamat.org/blog/dengue-innovative-solutions-to-a-global-health-issue/

The Effectiveness of Botanical Extracts as Repellents Against Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes | AMNH. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.amnh.org/learn-teach/curriculum-collections/young-naturalist-awards/winning-essays2/2009-winning-essays/the-effectiveness-of-botanical-extracts-as-repellents-against-aedes-aegypti-mosquitoes

WHO EMRO | Donors | Yemen. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2019, from http://www.emro.who.int/yem/donors/

WHO EMRO | Emergency preparedness and humanitarian action | Programmes | Yemen. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2019, from http://www.emro.who.int/yem/programmes/emergency-humanitarian-action.html

WHO EMRO | WHO develops national strategy for dengue prevention and control | Yemen-news | Yemen. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2019, from http://www.emro.who.int/yem/yemen-news/who-develops-national-strategy-for-dengue-prevention-and-control.html

Yemen: Dengue | IAMAT. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.iamat.org/country/yemen/risk/dengue