Infodengue: a platform for monitoring the transmission of climate-sensitive diseases

Abstract

Dengue and other vector-borne diseases are modulated by environmental, demographic, and biological factors resulting in complex temporal and spatial patterns. The distribution of these diseases are expanding to higher latitudes and altitudes due to climate change, urbanization and other environmental changes. The goal of a precise surveillance is to detect as early as possible the occurrence of outbreaks both in endemic areas and in new regions. Traditional monitoring systems based on case notification present loss of opportunity due to reporting delays. Infodengue is a tool developed by a consortium of researchers and health professionals to provide early warnings for dengue and other urban arbovirus diseases in Brazil. Combination of different sources of meteorological, social and epidemiological data feed a pipeline of models that results in indicators of receptivity, transmission and outbreak. It currently provides weekly reports for 5300 municipalities in Brazil and has developed a large community of practice. In collaboration with BSC Global Health Resilience Team leader, Rachel Lowe, we are developing solutions based on climate data for expanding the temporal and spatial scales of Infodengue forecasts and extend the tool to be used in other countries.