In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted a baseline survey to get an overview of Member State capacities for arboviral diseases surveillance (epidemiological and entomological) and control. Survey responses were compiled and analyzed to identify common gaps and to serve as a baseline survey for guiding planning activities for arboviral diseases surveillance and control at country, regional, and global levels.
The survey covered:
The survey was administered in the African Region by the Regional Office together with WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) and WHO Neglected Tropical Diseases department, and in the remaining regions by the respective Regional Offices and the WHO Health Emergencies Programme.
At the time of the survey the COVID-19 pandemic was exacting a particularly heavy toll on countries within the Region of the Americas. It was apparent that the full survey could not feasibly be circulated in the region given the deficit of available time for completion and because many personnel ordinarily engaged in arbovirus-related work were redirected to engage in pandemic response activities. WHO headquarters and AMRO/PAHO regional focal points agreed on an abbreviated dataset that could be populated by the Regional Office for the purpose of completion of the global survey with respect to key variables.