International Scientific Conference on mosquito-borne diseases and prevention methods was held within the MOS-Cross 3 project

As part of the MOS-Cross 3 project, Mosquito control in the cross-border area, on the 25 October 2023 in Novi Sad, the International Scientific Conference on diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and methods of prevention was held. The conference represents the seven-year crown cooperation during which the partners successfully implemented three projects financed from the funds of the European Union (over EUR 2 million) with the aim for the improvement of health services, mosquito control and monitoring.
This extremely well-attended conference was supported by distinguished international lecturers, as well as participants from the whole region, including health workers, professors of the medical and agricultural faculties, students of the technical faculties of science and agriculture, representatives of local self-governments, members of the project teams of the Institute for Public Health from Sombor, the Teaching Institute for Public Health of Osijek-Baranja County and the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina and others.

The director of the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina Ognjen Dopuđ, opened the conference and emphasized that it is necessary to implement projects of this type.

“Through the projects MOS-Cross, MOS-Cross 2 and MOS-Cross 3, in a period of 7 years, more than 2 million euros were provided to solve the problem of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, because these diseases represent a global problem. Projects of this type successfully solve this problem,” Dopuđ pointed out.

Then the attendees were greeted by prim. mr. sci. med. Dr. Dragoslava Čubrilo, director of the Public Health Institute Sombor, Hrvoje Sučić, assistant director for teaching quality at the Osijek-Baranja County Teaching Institute for Public Health and Brankica Tabak, the Under Secretary of the Provincial Secretariat for Urban Planning and Environmental Protection.

Moderator of the conference prof. Dr. Sanja Bijelović from the Institute of Public Health opened the first block of lectures and prim.m.Sc. dr Dragoslava Čubrilo, director of the Institute for Public Health Sombor, presented the MOS-Cross, MOS-Cross 2 and MOS-Cross 3 projects.

Prof. Dr. Miro Govedarica from the Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad (Department of Computing and Automation) spoke about artificial intelligence, digital twins and geodata in habitat identification of mosquitoes. New control methods for new mosquitoes were presented by Assoc. Ph.D Goran Vignjević from the University of Osijek (Department of Biology). Clinical characteristics of West Nile fever were presented by prof. Dr. Vesna Turkulov from the University of Novi Sad (Faculty of Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases) and Clinical Center of Vojvodina (Clinic for Infectious Diseases).

The second block began with a lecture by Dr. sci. vet. med. Tamaš Petrović from the Scientific Institute of Veterinary Science “NOVI SAD” on the topic of the presence of the West Nile virus in Serbia – monitoring data.

Prof. Dr. Enrih Merdić from the University of Osijek (Department of Biology) presented on the topic of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, from the eradication of malaria to today in Croatia and whether we can learn something from history. The final lecture, on the topic of the epidemiological significance of the number and seasonality of the house mosquito – the vector of the West Nile virus, was presented by prof. Dr. Dušan Petrić.

A discussion was opened on the presented topics, which once again showed how important the role of the MOS-Cross, MOS-Cross 2 and MOS-Cross 3 projects is, as well as mosquito-borne diseases.

The budget of the project “Mosquito control in the cross-border area – MOS-Cross”, which was realized in the period 2017-2019, was 982,167.50 euros. The budget of the project “Mosquito Control in Cross-border Area 2 – MOS-Cross 2”, which was implemented in the period from 2021 to 2023, amounted to 984,670.78 euros. While the budget of the project “Mosquito control in cross-border area 3 – MOS-Cross 3”, which was implemented this year, was 105,880.86 euros.