From prey to hunter: Training mosquito- and tick-borne diseases education ambassadors to meet outreach and surveillance challenges in Canada

Ticks, mosquitoes and the diseases they may transmit are inherently climate-sensitive due to the sensitivity of their lifecycles to climate. Consequently, in the context of climate change, vector-borne diseases are expected to have significant public health impacts in Canada in the near future. To address this, public health authorities have been carrying out surveillance activities and awareness-raising campaigns targeting workers and general population. Implementing these measures is time-consuming and resource-intensive, prompting the assessment of alternatives. In this short communication, we will present an exploratory project based on citizen science designed to evaluate the feasibility and implementation of a training-of-trainers-inspired approach in raising awareness about vector-borne zoonoses, as well as to evaluate its potential to contribute to provincial surveillance efforts.