Narrative Review on Health-EDRM Primary Prevention Measures for Vector-Borne Diseases

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Environmental Health
• Disaster Risk Management

Background:

• Climate change is expanding the population at risk of vector-borne diseases (VBDs).
• The World Health Organization's health emergency and disaster risk management (health-EDRM) framework highlights primary prevention of biological hazards for VBD protection.
• There is a need to strengthen prevention and recovery within disaster management strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and summarize primary prevention measures for VBDs within the health-EDRM framework.
• To identify enabling and limiting factors, co-benefits, and evidence strength for VBD prevention strategies.
• To highlight research gaps in VBD primary prevention.

Main Methods:

• Keyword-search based narrative literature review.
• Searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase, and Medline databases (January 2000 - May 2020).
• Identified and analyzed 134 publications on health-EDRM primary prevention measures for VBDs.

Main Results:

• Summarized 10 health-EDRM primary prevention measures across personal, environmental, and household levels.
• Current research primarily focuses on health risk reduction, with limited evaluation of actual disease reduction.
• Research gaps exist concerning non-mosquito VBDs, prevention in resource-poor settings, and the impact of technological/habitat changes.

Conclusions:

• High-priority research is needed for multifaceted, multi-sectoral, coordinated responses to VBDs.
• Effective risk mitigation requires strengthening primary prevention measures within health-EDRM.
• Further investigation into VBD prevention efficacy and broader implementation strategies is essential.