Building national tools for citizen-led mosquito surveillance

Wendy Pons, School of Health & Life Sciences

To support growing interest in community-based public health efforts, researchers developed the first Canadian toolkit to guide citizen science approaches to mosquito surveillance. Working with national partners such as the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health (NCCEH), the Public Health Agency of Canada, Public Health Ontario, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the team conducted a systematic review and held a series of stakeholder meetings to identify best practices and resource needs across the country. 

The project resulted in two major outcomes: a systematic review currently under peer review, and a publicly available toolkit hosted by the NCCEH. The toolkit was launched at a national meeting of 70 experts and continues to be promoted through conference presentations and invited talks. Researchers also plan to publish a dedicated paper on the development of the toolkit and its applications. 

This work has already sparked new citizen science initiatives, including a mosquito surveillance project launching this summer at Memorial University. By laying the groundwork for standardized, accessible tools, the project supports more consistent and collaborative community-based vector surveillance efforts across Canada. 

Citizen science approaches in mosquito surveillance is/was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).