2024 has been an important year for Mosquito Alert. We have made great progress towards our goals and have established ourselves as a global public health tool. Throughout this year, we have seen a notable increase in citizen participation and greater visibility in various areas.

We have achieved figures that reflect the growing interest and collaboration of citizens in vector surveillance. 

           

  • 78.753 downloads of the app.
  • 23.903 reports of bites.
  • 3.732 breeding sites identified.
  • 10.695 photos of mosquitoes submitted by users.

These numbers not only represent the growth of Mosquito Alert, but also the active engagement of society in the monitoring and control of invasive mosquito species. This high level of participation has enabled us to detect the presence of invasive mosquitoes in 59 new municipalities. Of these, 52 correspond to Aedes albopictus and 7 to Aedes japonicus

Throughout the year, Mosquito Alert has had an outstanding visibility in the media. With a total of 617 appearances in the press, the project has been publicised, and its achievements have been highlighted. Also, in the academic and scientific field, we have been recognised with the Best Paper Award in the Insects Journal, and distinguished with the international World Summit Award (WSA) in the category ‘Smart Settlements & Urbanization’. 

 

Education is a key pillar of the project. In 2024, the educational project hosted a total of:

  • 45 educational centres in 14 autonomous communities in Spain.
  • 1.970 students from 5th grade of primary school to the last year of high school (17–18 years old). 

To close the year, the first final event of the educational programme was organised at the CSIC headquarters in Madrid. At this event, more than 150 students and teachers from all over Spain gathered to attend a science fair. The students presented their products and projects, and with the help of a jury composed of members of different institutions, such as the MNCN, the ASPB and the CSIC, prizes were awarded. 

      

The educational project also had a large participation in the Netherlands, with 225 students from 16 different schools. 

In the scientific field, Mosquito Alert was present in 7 international congresses related to public health and vector control. We also participated in more than 30 talks, where we shared our progress, tools and the importance of citizen vigilance in the fight against mosquitoes.

And as a scientific article, we wanted to highlight one that deals with how environmental factors such as temperature, rainfall and human density affect the growth and basic reproduction of urban mosquitoes, such as Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti.

Pardo-Araujo M, Eritja R, Alonso D, Bartumeus F. 2024: Present and future suitability of invasive and urban vectors through an environmentally driven mosquito reproduction number. Proc. R. Soc. B 291: 20241960.

https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1960

2024 has also been a year of international expansion. We have brought in new experts from key countries such as Uruguay and Burkina Faso, who have contributed their experience and knowledge to strengthen our global public health collaboration network.

Looking ahead to 2025, we look forward to collaborating to further implement surveillance systems in new regions and to continue to improve our platform with all your contributions.

We would like to thank all the users, institutions and collaborators who have been part of this great year.

Here’s to 2025!