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EMPROS objective is the development of a West Nile Virus (WNV) surveillance and early warning system by leveraging Earth Observation data derived from new generation satellites and advanced information technologies. The motivation of the project is the fact that WNV incidences emerge with an increasing tendency in Greece and in Europe due to changing climatic and ecological conditions, global travel and human behavior that influence the seasonal and geographic distribution of mosquitoes’ population and, therefore, the transmission of the pathogen. Mosquito borne diseases emerge as an important worldwide health threat for human beings and animals. Considering that no human vaccine has been approved for commercial use, the EMPROS project could be a significant tool for helping the decision-makers to improve the health system responses and preventive measures in order to curtail the spread of WNV.The project’s objectives are:
- Development of a web-based platform for epidemiological, entomological, ornithological surveillance, through standardization of the input data and visualization of the final products, enabling real time monitoring. Goal of the platform is to derive early information to the concerned Public Health Institutions and/or other bodies,
- Formulation/ establishment of an epidemiological, entomological, and ornithological observatory in Greece through systematic collection, recording, evaluation and standardization, and time series analysis of data.
- Development of Epidemiological Surveillance and Early Warning System based on ensemble modeling and the use of the environmental/ climatic parameters derived from big satellite data of higher spatial, spectral and temporal resolution, as well as epidemiological, entomological and ornithological data.