Mosquito sampling trap. Credit: Josué Martínez de la Puente

Seville and Alcalá de los Gazules will host the Southwest Workshop on the prevention, surveillance and control of arthropod-borne diseases from 10 to 12 March. The technical meeting will bring together public health, animal health, environmental health and environmental management authorities from several Spanish autonomous communities and the national government, as well as scientists from the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC).

These workshops are the third to be held in Spain as part of the outreach activities of the project Scaling up One Health vector-borne zoonotic diseases monitoring and surveillance in Spain (SPVECTORSURV), funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE). The event is co-funded by the SPVECTORSURV project and the Andalusian regional government.

Public health meeting

The public health technical meeting, scheduled for 11 March, will bring together representatives from the autonomous communities of Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia, Extremadura and the Canary Islands, as well as from the autonomous city of Ceuta, together with academic experts.

Jordi Figuerola, research professor at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) at the Doñana Biological Station, will give a talk on how integrating surveillance data can improve risk assessment for West Nile virus.

The event will be streamed online. Its aim is to promote discussion on diseases transmitted by ticks, sandflies and mosquitoes affecting these regions, from a One Health perspective that integrates human, animal and environmental health.

Workshops for the public and professionals

In addition to the technical meeting, the event will include three workshops jointly organised by the ministries involved, the Andalusian regional government, the IES Fundación Ed. SAFA-BEATERIO secondary school in Alcalá de los Gazules, and the Doñana Biological Station.

On the morning of 10 March, a workshop will be held at the IES Fundación Ed. SAFA-BEATERIO school aimed at students, focusing on the prevention and control of mosquito and tick bites. The session will feature entomologist Agustín Estrada Peña, advisor to the Ministry of Health’s Centre for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies and member of the SPVECTORSURV project, and Ana de Luis, from the National Veterinary Corps. Professionals designated by the participating autonomous communities will also attend to assess whether the activity could be replicated in their territories.

Later that afternoon, the Casa de la Ciencia in Seville will host a workshop open to the public on the prevention, surveillance and control of ticks. Speakers will include Agustín Estrada Peña, Ana de Luis, Sergio Magallanes from the Doñana Biological Station, and Inmaculada Uria Paumard from the Andalusian Health Service. The event will also be streamed online.

On 12 March, a practical outdoor workshop will take place in Dehesa de Abajo, in Puebla del Río, organised by Jordi Figuerola from the Doñana Biological Station and aimed at public health professionals. The session will demonstrate sampling techniques for mosquitoes of the genus Culex and for ticks, with the aim of strengthening technical capacities in entomological surveillance.

The event is jointly organised by the Regional Ministry of Health, Presidency and Emergencies of the Government of Andalusia; the Doñana Biological Station of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC); the Spanish Ministry of Health through the Centre for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies, the Subdirectorate General for Environmental Health and Occupational Health, and the State Foundation for Health, Childhood and Social Welfare; the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food through the Subdirectorate General for Animal Health, Hygiene and Traceability; and the Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge through the Subdirectorate General for Terrestrial and Marine Biodiversity.