Hilo hosting international mosquito outbreak control training this week

The 2023 Pacific Vector Control and Outbreak Response Training on Mosquitoes will be held from September 11 through 15 in Hilo, according to the Pacific Vector Network, Hawai‘i Department of Health, Hawai‘i Invasive Species Council, and the Pacific Southwest Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases, in partnership with the Pacific Island Health Officers’ Association.

More than 40 participants will be participating in the training from Hawai‘i and twenty Pacific Island Countries and Territories: American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Kiribati, Republic of Marshall Islands, Nauru, Republic of Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.

The training is funded through training grants from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Participants will learn hands-on from subject matter experts how to identify mosquito habitats, place traps in different environmental conditions, and implement proper mosquito control methods. This training will also provide networking opportunities and peer-to-peer learning amongst our Pacific region vector management professionals, who will share strategies and best practices learned on their islands.

The training spans five days with combined lectures at the Grand Naniloa Hotel-Hilo and various field and laboratory activities. A wide range of topics will be presented, including public health entomology (emerging pathogens, epidemiology, and vector ecology); mosquito sampling strategies; mosquito identification; trapping and sorting; pinning and preservation of mosquito specimens; mosquito rearing and containment techniques; CDC bottle bioassay methodology; data entry; data analysis for decision-making; outbreak response; and safe application of pesticides.

The PVNPacific Vector Networkis an initiative from the Pacific Public Health Surveillance Network to strengthen vector-borne disease diagnostic, surveillance, and vector control capacities across the Pacific Islands by supporting the Pacific Public Health Surveillance Network members from the Pacific Island Countries and Territories.