Mosquito and Vector Control Awareness: Bridging the Gaps Between Mosquito and Vector Control Programs, Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Professionals, Politicians, and the Public

It is well known that mosquitoes are the deadliest creatures on Earth due to their ability to spread disease. They may also decrease people’s quality of life due to their persistently annoying biting activity. Many places around the country have mosquito and vector control programs. There are typically no legal requirements for these programs, nor is there a standard for where they are housed, how they are set up, who is involved in the activities, or the services they provide. Little standardization among programs contributes to a lack of understanding of their purpose and awareness among various levels of public health, medical, and veterinary communities, politicians, and the public.

This problem has been recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and has led to grant funding intended to help improve regional capacity to address vector-borne diseases known as Strengthening Training, Evaluation, and Partnership in the Prevention and Control of Vector-Borne Diseases. Funding has been awarded to the Gulf Soth VECTOR collaborative. This webinar will review issues caused by the lack of standardization among these programs and the goals of Gulf South VECTOR to mitigate these issues.

Presenter

Nina Dacko has had a passion of working with insects ever since she was very young. She obtained her Bachelor’s in Science degree in entomology from the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign in 2006 and a Master’s of Science in environmental toxicology from Texas Tech University in 2011. She has studied mosquitoes and been involved in mosquito surveillance and control activities in Illinois, California and Texas since 2006. She expanded, restructured, and maintained the Mosquito and Vector Control Program at Tarrant County Public Health for nearly a decade and briefly held the associate director position at Harris County Public Health Mosquito and Vector Control Division. Today she is contracted to help educate politicians about the importance of vector control and help assess programs throughout the state of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida with the Gulf South VECTOR Training and Education Center. She is also active in mosquito and vector control associations at both a state and national level including the Texas Mosquito Control Association (TMCA) (past president), American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA) (Chair of the Local and State Legislative Subcommittee) and serves on Vector Control Committees for both the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) and the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA).

This presentation meets the NLM/NIH strategic plan goal reach more people in more ways through enhanced dissemination and engagement by addressing increasing health equity through information and increasing health information access and use.

This class will not be offering MLA continuing education credit.

This class is for educational and informational purposes in alignment with NNLM goals and does not offer medical advice.

By registering for this class, you are agreeing to the NNLM Code of Conduct