University of Montenegro

Biotechnical faculty

SurveilLance of invasive and native mOsquito VeCtorsand pathogENs they transmit in Montenegro – acronym

LOVCEN

Estimated overall duration of the proposed project [months] 36

Proposed start [month, year] 06/2014

Proposed completion [month, year] 05/2017

Grant amount [€] 390000,00

Project leader: Pajovi ć Igor

List of participants - institutions

Partner institutions on the project are:

- Applicant institution - Biotechnical faculty+

- 3 national registered scientific research institutions –Institute for Hydrometeorology and Seismology,Institute for Public Health andNatural History Museum.++

- 6 international scientific research institutions –3 from EU (2 from Italy, 1 from Romania) and3 from region (Serbia)

and

- 1 national small company

In total 11 institutions and 36 researchers without technical staff.

Chikungunya fever:Italy in 2007,France in 2010.

Dengue fever:France and Croatia in 2010,Portugal in 2012-2013.

Europe is vulnerable to

Mosquito vectors (MV) and mosquito-borne diseases ( MBD) are rising threat to Europe

Europe is vulnerable to “tropical” MBD outbreaks.

Montenegro is not an exception:

West Nile virus fever in 2013

Human and

Animal

Health

High Education

and inovative

“know how”

High education – capacity building for excellence in the research and innovation in surveillance of mosquito vectors (MV) and mosquito-borne diseases (MBD)

Increasing the quality of human life

by decreasing the medical, social and

financial impact of MV and MBD’s

Health

Environment

1. Capacity building

44 trainings, 27 equipment acquisitions

2. Innovative research

- SIT,

- implementation of Guidelines of ECDC,

- mobile phone application for surveillance of invasive and

indigenous mosquito species,

- evaluation of novel non-pesticide, biodegradable materials for

control of mosquito larvae

Activities designed to achieve high Impact

control of mosquito larvae

3. Dissemination

- developing Web Site http://project-lovcen.me/index.php,

- socio economic impact check,

- public (radio, TV, newspapers) appearances

4. Sustainability

- support of the idea by two Ministries – MH and MSDT

- recruitment of YR, EU competitive research, knowledge transfer

- SMEs involvement

- community participation/ KOMARAC /

(a) Distribution of mosquitoes in Montenegro;

(b) Identification of mosquito vector species in Montenegro;

(c) Low-cost and sustainable monitoring system - KOMARAC

(d) Detection of pathogens carried by mosquito vector species;

Outcomes - novelties for Montenegro, highly valuable and

competitive at EU level

(d) Detection of pathogens carried by mosquito vector species;

(e) Capacity for modelling of climate changes influence on MV and MBD;

(f) Survey and feedback on stakeholder’s opinions about direction of the

research in vector borne disease prevention/control and

(g) Link through applicable research with business.

(WP1) Collaborative interdisciplinary research on native/invasive mosquitoes and pathogens

they transmit in Montenegro and development of non-pesticide control measures

(WP2) Twinning through exchange of know-how and experience and dissemination activities

LOVCEN WPs - combining capacity building and research in different

scientific disciplines

(WP3) Acquisition of research equipment and innovation capacity building

(WP4) Management

Aim Measurable targets

Collaborative Research

• reports of invasive and native mosquito fauna and their

distribution

• mobile phone and server software for mosquito surveillance

• reports of pathogen identification in vector mosquitoes

• social impact check

• best practices and policy recommendation

• reports on efficiency of SIT

• reports on other non-chemical methods for mosquito control

• reports on scientific visits of researchers from MCM to partner

international research institutions

• reports on training visits of researchers from partner

Clearly measurable targets

Exchange of Know-How and Experience

and Dissemination activities

• reports on training visits of researchers from partner

international institutions to MCM

• reports on participation of the MCM research staff at

international conferences

• report about web page development and maintenance

• reports on organized promotional and dissemination activities

Acquisition of Equipment and

Capacity Building

• reports about purchasing activities and installation of

equipment

• reports on training in research skills and innovation capacity

building

Management

• scientific and financial plans for project realization

• progress reports/annual progress reports of project realization

(scientific and financial).

• report about LMT, PMT and APM meetings

• final report of project realization

“wider impact beyond the scientific community”LO

VC

EN

Research ResultsImpact on surveillance policies

Future research strategies

Personell with interdisciplinary

background

Capacity building

Policy makers

&

Dissemination and capacity building

LOV

CE

N &

Grant Agencies

National surveillance

system

Business Partners,

NGO’s

Health system, Hospitals,

Laboratories

Laboratory personnel

Researchers

Meteorologists

Community

LOV

CE

NMapping of MV

distribution

ECDC/EFSA

MBD in MontenegroNational Reference Center

Dissemination and sustainability

European Health Policy Makers

European Research Policy

Makers

European Reference Centers

LOV

CE

N

Control strategies

National Public Health Service

Environmental Agency

National Policy Makers

We have clear vision about sustainability of activities started by MCM beyond the 36 months of the

LOVCEN project.

Ministry of Health and Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism of Montenegro already

expressed their interest in the thematic area proposed by LOVCEN project.

ERA

networking towards

Horizon 2020

Project Leader

10 out of 13 researchers gathered to form MCM.

They will all be actively engaged in

collaborative research and development of non-chemical control measures

(WP1),

twinning through exchange of know-how and experience and dissemination

Early stage, young researchers (YR) and students

twinning through exchange of know-how and experience and dissemination

activities (WP2),

acquisition of research equipment and innovation capacity building (WP3)

and management (WP4).

Introduction of teaching on MV and MBD (WP 2) will recruit new students to

take their master and PhD thesis in this subjects.

How large BRIC countries or USA are solving the issue?

Brasil, Rusia, India, China and South Africa

1. - Diseases of poverty: TB, Chagas Disease, Malaria, Chikungunya, Dengue, Hepatitis,Diarrheal Diseases, Visceral Leishmaniasis and HIV remain major problems.

2. - The most deadly MBD in BRICS are malaria and dengue hemorrhagic fever .2. - The most deadly MBD in BRICS are malaria and dengue hemorrhagic fever .

BRICS Health Ministers’ meeting Delhi 2012. Declaration:

“We are aware that an effective health and disease surveillance is the key strategy forcontrolling communicable diseases... to detect early warning signals to control outbreaks andto respond quickly on resource allocation for specific areas.

For this purpose, we recognize the need to build capacity for effective health and diseasesurveillance systems , including setting up surveillance units, strengthening of laboratories.”

QUESTION c) How large BRIC countries or USA are solving the issue?

USA

CDC organizing National based surveillance program (for over 60 years)

e.g. WNV surveillance program since 1999

States: Ae. albopictus since 1986 (Texas).

All major critical needs in vector biology and management of vector-borne diseases definedby Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences USAare prioritized in LOVCENare prioritized in LOVCEN

LOVCEN propose using the Guidelines published 2012 by ECDC,Belgium 2013.,Greece and Italy 2014.Montenegro – forth in Europe.

In a sense, arboviruses and other VBD (MBD) epidemics are like floods, hurricanes, or tornadoes: theyoccur sporadically, but their precise time and location can not be predicted . Beasley et al. 2013.

We did our best to have a clearly-defined starting

Imp

act

We tried to avoid our project looks like this:

To start from somewhere here:

To finish (“successfully”) after a few years somewhere here:

Several years later to be back somewhere here:

We did our best to have a clearly-defined starting point (SWOT):

Imp

act

start finish long-term

start finish long-term

Clearly-defined activities and evidence of progress to define the Impact at the end (WPs):

Ensured long-term Impact after the end(sustainibility plan):

And we hope we did it well.

Veterinarski fakultet Sarajevo, Almedina Zuko, Teufik Goletić

iVeterinarski institut Banja Luka, Violeta Santrač, Jelena Marić i Oliver Stevanović

Thank you!