Brazil and Cuba are the most advanced in their rollout since the first version began in 2020-2023 and the second is expected in 2024-2027. Photo: ACN
Representatives of 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries agreed in this capital on the need to renew the measures using the Sterile Insect Technique (TIE) to combat mosquitoes, some of which cause contagious diseases.
To this end, at a meeting at the Memories Miramar Hotel, they prepared the bases for a new project, above all to expand the capacities in the facilities and to prepare the necessary staff, explained doctor René Gato Armas.
“Only this time, the goals of the SIT are aimed at helping the nations that are furthest behind in the application,” added Gato Armas, from the Vector Control Department of the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), recognized for his experience Recognized in Diagnosis and Recognition Control of Communicable Diseases.
The Cuban coordinator of the initiative also shared content and perspectives with his colleagues in the region at a meeting at the aforementioned hotel complex in the capital, which is funded and technically advised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). based in Vienna.
He noted that Brazil and Cuba are furthest along in their rollout since the first version began in 2020-2023, and the second version is expected in 2024-2027 when they make the most late recommendation.
He specified that the consultation will take into account training and advice on the components of the TIE, the supply of materials and equipment purchased, delivered and used, and the selection of sites for conducting tests with the support of national projects.
In addition, learning to irradiate the bids, experiments on tagging, releasing and recapturing, assessments, tests, on-site pre-operations, coordination of interviews and training in communication.
Maylen Gómez Pacheco and Chao Chia, project technical manager and IAEA adviser respectively, provided advice on the creation of the matrix based on member countries’ proposals and its implementation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Among those attending the meeting were specialists from Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda; Bahamas, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Uruguay.
They also evaluated the results of their management in the implementation of the first project on this subject in 2020-2023 and in the case of Cuba, the test began in the town of El Cano, municipality of La Lisa of the capital, which was chosen as the intervention site due to its proximity to the Pedro Kourí Institute for Tropical Medicine (IPK), the coordinator of the project in the country.
The Center for Technological Applications and Nuclear Development (CEADEN), one of the agencies of the Nuclear Energy and Advanced Technologies Agency, is responsible for irradiating mosquitoes to sterilize them.
Since there are no effective vaccines and drugs to combat diseases such as dengue fever, Zika fever and chikungunya fever, according to experts, controlling vector populations is considered an effective way to combat these diseases.
AIT consists in releasing sterile male mosquitoes which, when copulating with wild females, reduce their reproductive capacity and thus the birth rate of the population. A technology that has been successfully used in other countries for more than 50 years to combat mosquitoes of various insect pests.
Once the sterilized mosquitoes are irradiated with gamma or X-rays, they are unable to produce offspring while maintaining sexual competitiveness because the males do not bite and therefore do not cause or transmit disease.
Projects of this type are being implemented with the support of the IAEA, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other international organizations and donor countries, which could respond to the regional dengue emergency and contribute to the eradication of the disease . virus in the Latin American and caribbean region.
(With information from ACN)