Launch of VBD-Environment.org

30 November 2015

On Monday 30 November, a public website for five research projects on vector-borne diseases in Africa was launched: vbd-environment.org. This research programme is implemented by TDR, with funding support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and in technical collaboration with WHO’s Department of Public Health and Environment (WHO-PHE), WHO’s Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) – notably its Programme for the Protection of the Human Environment (AFRO-PHE) – and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), Columbia University, New York, USA.

As the new website explains, the objective of this programme is to reduce population health vulnerabilities and to increase resilience against VBDs under climate change conditions in Africa.

Specifically, the programme aims to:

• Generate knowledge and evidence on VBD impacts under climate change conditions on vulnerable populations.
• Develop practical frameworks, processes and tools for policy and decision-making for better risk management.
• Build African capacity for inter-disciplinary policy-oriented research

The programme focuses on five research projects being conducted in different African countries. These are:

Project A:
Social, environment and climate change impacts on vector-borne diseases in arid areas of southern Africa

Project B:
Early warning systems for improved human health and resilience to climate sensitive vector-borne diseases in Kenya

Project C:
Predicting vulnerability and improving resilience of the Maasai communities to vector-borne infections: an ecohealth approach in the Maasai Steppe ecosystem

Project D:
Trypanosomiasis: alleviating the effects of climate change through understanding human-vector-parasite interactions

Project E:
Vulnerability and resilience to malaria and schistosomiasis in the northern and southern fringes of the Sahelian belt in the context of climate change

Click here to view the website.