Summary:
As part of ongoing public engagement on vector-borne diseases, on Thursday, May 23, 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health’s (OASH) Office of Science and Medicine met with researchers, clinicians, public health officials, vector control officials, and patients and patient advocates to hear about public priorities for implementing the goals from the recently published National Public Health Strategy to Prevent and Control Vector-Borne Diseases in People (VBD National Strategy). The VBD National Strategy was developed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in response to congressional direction in the 2019 Kay Hagan Tick Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 247b-23 and 300hh-32) asking the HHS Secretary to ensure the development and implementation of a national strategy to address the growing concern of vector-borne diseases. The primary purpose of the meeting is to increase awareness of the VBD National Strategy and inform future implementation efforts.
The roundtable featured over 120 invited participants, participating in-person at HHS headquarters in Washington, D.C., and virtually in Zoom breakout rooms. The event provided a hybrid venue to hear a set of lightning talks from federal agency representatives on 2023 vector-borne disease prevention and control efforts. It also provided a space to hear diverse perspectives on goals and priorities for implementing the VBD National Strategy. Both the opening and closing sessions featured on HHS live streaming will be available on HHS YouTube in the coming weeks. Invited participants with a range of vector-borne disease experience participated in a set of interactive activities to collect individual opinions on priority areas of focus for VBD National Strategy Implementation.
The day began by both Dr. Lyle Petersen, Director of the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, CDC, and Dr. Leith States, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science and Medicine, OASH, highlighting the growing health threat of vector-borne diseases in the United States. Both stressed the Department’s commitment to addressing those threats. Dr. Susanna Visser, Deputy Director for Policy and Extramural Program, DVBD, CDC provided an overview of the VBD National Strategy with five main goals and 19 strategic priorities to drive progress. Dr. Visser drew attention to the four audacious public health outcomes in the strategy, including a 25% reduction laboratory confirmed Lyme disease cases by 2035 compared to 2022.
Following the strategy overview, Dr. Kristen Honey, Chief Data Scientist, OASH, HHS, thanked participants for sharing their candid feedback and underscored the need for VBD solutions to be “co-created” by everyone working together for maximum impact. Diverse representatives from participating agencies provided 5-minute lightning talks on success stories from their agencies in 2023, including the:
- HHS Lyme Innovation with the LymeX Diagnostics Prize competition;
- Rocky Mountain spotted fever prevention and control in Arizona tribal communities;
- Department of Defense MilTICK program;
- Flea control at Badlands National Park; and
- Longhorned tick emergence in the United States.
The roundtable exercises, led by third-party facilitators, provided an open forum for all participants to provide candid feedback on the five goals and 19 strategic priorities of the VBD National Strategy. Participants placed stickers on posters of each of the five goals and 19 strategic priorities to demonstrate the most important priorities to them. Participants also had open discussions to provide context and nuance on their perspectives, captured by notetakers at each of six tables in person and six virtual breakout rooms. The roundtable event closed with a final session broadcast on HHS live to summarize the input collected from the day’s activities.
Emerging themes included the need for better diagnostics for existing and novel VBDs, the inclusion of diverse voices and patient perspective in solutions to VBD threats, and the importance of improved clinician education on VBD diagnosis and treatment. The third-party facilitators are collecting and summarizing the individual inputs from the roundtable to provide to the 17 federal agencies that developed the VBD National Strategy to help inform future implementation plans and updates to the VBD National Strategy. This post-event report from the Roundtable on VBD National Strategy will be available to the public when published later this year.
The May 2024 Roundtable on VBD National Strategy kicks off the beginning of implementing the VBD National Strategy with collaboration within and outside the federal government. Together, the collective vision is a nation where vector-borne diseases no longer threaten human health and well-being. For more information please visit https://www.hhs.gov/ash/osm/innovationx/vector-borne-disease-national-strategy/index.html or email vectorbornedisease@hhs.gov.
