Efficient Control of Vector-Borne Diseases

Vector-borne diseases are responsible for over 700,000 deaths and more than 7M disability-adjusted life years annually. Those affected typically live in resource-limited settings. Therefore, whilst there has been substantial progress in the control of many vector-borne infections, maintaining intervention success is difficult because of competing priorities across healthcare systems. Whilst generally not vaccine-preventable (notable exceptions being yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis), the nature of these infections passing through secondary, non-human hosts provides alternative options for control that are not possible with contagious infections. There is a question of how feasible and effective vector control interventions are for particular diseases and locations and, furthermore, there must be careful allocation of resources between interventions targeting the vector—primarily preventing transmission—and medical interventions, including diagnosis and treatment, much needed by those who become infected.

Dynamic transmission modelling can be used to explore the relative impact of different strategies composed of combinations of interventions. Such analyses can assess progress towards disease control or elimination goals, provide predictions of future disease burden, and explore “what if?” scenarios, which can be helpful in the consideration of emerging new tools or even the scaling back of present interventions. Modelling can factor in resource constraints or health system capacity to conduct strategies, aiding more realistic planning and optimisation of strategies, especially those focused on achieving a goal such as elimination of transmission. To complement this, health economic analyses bring in the additional perspective of a strategy’s economic efficiency—usually through the consideration of cost to alleviate disease burden, affordability, and the broader impact on households’ wellbeing.

This Special Issue aims to bring together collective insights across different vector-borne diseases. We welcome high-quality articles focused on the use of quantitative approaches to assess efficient use of resources to control disease burden or achieve fixed goals, such as elimination as a public health problem or elimination of transmission.

Dr. Kat Rock
Dr. Jennifer Lord
Dr. Fabrizio Tediosi
Dr. Mario Recker
Guest Editors

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