SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMS

Coordinator

Within the scope of fulfilling its mandate, the INS began implementing the 2016-2025 Scientific Strategy in 2016. This strategy is organized into Programs and Strategic Axes. The Scientific Strategy Programs reflect the thematic areas considered priorities. The Program for Vector-Borne, Neglected, and Zoonotic Diseases (PVZ) is the sixth on the list of eight programs in the INS 2016-2025 Scientific Strategy. The Strategic Axes, namely: 1) National Health Observatory and Epidemiological Surveillance; 2) Network of National Reference Health Laboratories; 3) Research, Technological Development, and Innovation; 4) Health Education, Information, and Communication; 5) Institutional Management and Development, represent essential public health functions. These functions are coordinated and operationalized through the programs. According to the INS Scientific Strategy, the strategic axes of the strategy and the Programs are interconnected.

Program Objectives

• Generate knowledge and strengthen the surveillance and diagnostic system to support decision-making for the prevention, treatment, and control of neglected diseases, as well as strengthen the prediction, early detection, and rapid response to zoonotic and emerging diseases.

Research Areas

PVZ's activities are focused on the following research areas:

• Investigation and surveillance of vectors of medical importance;
• Neglected tropical diseases, zoonotic diseases, and emerging diseases;
• Establishment of diagnostic capacity within the National Health Service for monitoring and evaluating programmatic interventions aimed at controlling/eliminating vector-borne, neglected, and zoonotic diseases.

Research Projects

According to the INS Scientific Strategist, the VZ program's projects/activities include:

1. Development of a hospital-based alert surveillance system for reporting neglected, zoonotic, and emerging diseases;
2. Development of a community-based surveillance system for the notification of neglected, zoonotic, and emerging diseases;
3. Development of a national map of the ecological distribution of Glossina, Aedes, and ticks of sanitary relevance.;
4. Development of a national map of the distribution of emerging and zoonotic diseases in small mammals, wild animals, and vectors;
5. Conducting resistance studies of various mosquito species to insecticides and
6. Implementation of methodologies for laboratory diagnosis of zoonotic and neglected diseases.

Projects listed in the PES:

• Implementation of the Project Characterizing Human Diversity and Immune Responses to CHIKV Strains from Mozambique;
• Training of animal and human health professionals (central zone) using the One Health approach;
• Dissemination of the zoonotic disease prioritization report;
• Training of national health system technicians in microscopy diagnosis of parasitic diseases and lymphatic filariasis;
• Seminar for the dissemination of services for the identification and surveillance of neglected tropical diseases (northern zone);
• Development and implementation of the national strategy for the surveillance and control of emerging, neglected, and zoonotic diseases;
• Health surveillance for determining the epidemiological characteristics of dengue, chikungunya, Rift Valley fever, West Nile virus, yellow fever, and Zika viruses at the national level.

Partners

• SACIDS - Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance
• IHMT - Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine