The Vector Biology and Control Project (VBC)

From 1985 to 1994, MSCI implemented this USAID-funded project for the control of Malaria, schistosomiasis, river blindness, Guinea worm disease and more than 20 other insect and snail borne diseases in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. With the help of several hundred consultants, the 13 staff members of VBC completed over 250 individual assignments in 43 USAID assisted countries. The VBC Project also involved four university subcontractors - Harvard University School of Public Health, Tulane University School of Tropical Public Health, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, and the Jackson Foundation which represented the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

Originally conceived as a quick response technical assistance project to meet the health priorities of USAID supported countries around the world, MSCI's VBC staff went on to design control initiatives, establish training programs, test new technologies, and develop surveillance programs that are the backbone of the disease control strategies of a score of nations. The guiding philosophy of VBC was to transform national vector borne disease control programs that were highly dependent upon expensive insecticide application and eradication strategies into more sustainable, and environmentally sound approaches that stressed disease control and integration with health services.

To support the technical needs of the staff scientists and consultants, VBC established a state of the art Information Center that was unequaled for the depth and relevance of its data. In addition, MSCI utilized a network of worldwide consultants which exceeded 1200 specialists in entomology, epidemiology, parasitology and medicine.

Among the many accomplishments of the VBC Project were:

• Design Egypt Schistosomiasis Research Project, which is the largest project ever devoted to research on the control of this disease which affects 200 million people in 74 countries. The project conducted key research on the treatment and diagnosis of infections, the social aspects of disease control, and the development of a vaccine for preventing the disease

• Design and development of integrated malaria control programs for several countries

• Preparation of contingency plans for the governments of four Latin American nations to manage outbreaks of potentially fatal dengue hemorrhagic fever

• Development of ivermectin distribution and monitoring programs for the prevention of blindness due to onchocerciasis in Africa and Central America

• Developed community-based approaches for the control of Guinea worm disease in Central and West Africa in collaboration with the Carter Foundation and Global 2000

• Created a major housing improvement project to limit exposure of Bolivian villagers to the triatomid bug vectors of Chagas' disease

• Developed integrated disease control alliances between ministries of health and agriculture for more rational use of insecticides and other resources in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East

• Setup an internship program for new graduates of disease control programs who wanted to devote their careers to vector borne disease control

The VBC Project staff collaborated with nearly every U.S. and international disease control organization including the The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), WHO, the Pan American Health Organization, the Carter Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Helen Keller International, The International Eye Foundation, ORSTROM, AMREF, UNICEF, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, as well as the staff members of more than 25 universities and foundations.