Multi-Agency Training Strengthens Pohnpei's Vector Control and Outbreak Response Efforts

Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia - In case you missed it, PIHOA recently conducted a Vector Surveillance and Outbreak Response Training in Kolonia, Pohnpei, FSM, on November 18 and 21, 2024. Fourteen participants from FSM's National Environmental Health Office, Pohnpei State's Department of Health and Social Services (Pohnpei DHSS), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received hands-on training from PIHOA's Vector Management Team, Dr. Limb Hapairai and Ms. Rosanna Yoon Rabago, with support from Mr. Thomas Nadeau of the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services (Guam DPHSS).

The PIHOA vector team pictured with vector leaders and staff from the FSM National Environmental Health Office, Pohnpei DHSS, Pohnpei EPA and Guam DPHSS, Division of Environmental Health staff who attended the Mosquito Surveillance and Outbreak Response Training.

PIHOA will continue to work closely with FSM's vector management teams to strengthen capacity and develop a Vector-Borne Disease Outbreak Response Plan to protect communities across FSM.

This training effort is a component of PIHOA’s Regional Vector Management Improvement Strategy and Implementation Plan (RVMIS) endorsed in August 2018 by the USAPI health leadership in response to the increasing risk of outbreak-prone mosquito vector-borne diseases in the Pacific region. The RVMIS outlines the following key objectives:



1. Improve local and regional systems and capacities for mosquito and mosquito pathogen surveillance, including development of early warning systems and lab-based detection and surveillance capabilities;
2. Strengthen local systems and capacities for timely and effective mosquito control and management;
3. Establish and sustain regional mechanisms for leadership development and peer networking, training, and information exchange, including support to the USAPI Pacific Islands Vector Management Council (PIVMC) and the Pacific-wide Pacific Vector Network (PVN) under the SPC’s Pacific Public Health Surveillance Network (PPHSN);
4. Establish and sustain collaborative partnerships with key technical and development partners to ensure more coordinated and effective technical support to the USAPIs; and
5. Explore innovations in mosquito control and management technologies and approaches appropriate and scalable to the USAPI context.