Enabling the use of epidemiological, environmental and societal information by the public and stakeholders to anticipate, manage and mitigate emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Project title: Enabling the use of epidemiological, environmental and societal information by the public and stakeholders to anticipate, manage and mitigate emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Problem: In recent years, there is evidence of emergence of new diseases such as Chikungunya, Dengue, Leishmaniases, Japanese Encephalitis and Leptospirosis and re-emergence of diseases such as Malaria in the hill district of Kandy in Sri Lanka. Kandy is the largest metropolis in Sri Lanka after Colombo (1.4 million people in 1,917 sq. km) and it has been attracting increasing migration leading to rapid urbanization and land use change. Climate change is leading to both an alarming and unusual decline in rainfall and streamflow in the rivers through Kandy district (by about 10-20% over 3 decades) and a rise in temperature that is four times the global rate of warming. The hill region is particularly susceptible for the migration of disease risks to higher altitudes as temperature increases.
Objectives:
1. The overall goal is to promote multiple stakeholder participation in data generation, management, risk prediction and communication related to (re-) emerging infectious disease decisions.
2. To engage and mobilize multiple agencies, community groups and local government in a program to use information about epidemiology, environmental and societal factors to control and prevent emerging and re-emerging diseases.
3. To bring together expertise in the epidemiological and entomological, environmental, socio-economic and ICT fields to interrogate existing data to monitor epidemiological, land use, hydrological and climate and socio-economic information for interpreting hazard, exposure and vulnerability to EID at the sub-district and village scale in Kandy.
4. To develop a system of risk prediction for water-related vector-borne diseases based on the epidemiological, environmental and vulnerability information that already exists and can be routinely collected.
5. To enable stakeholder participation in assessing risks of disease and the social, environmental and vulnerability conditions that contribute to disease risk and for managing and mitigating these conditions.
