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Contributory project: It is designed by scientists, and citizens participate in data collection.
Objectives • Provide non-specialized users with interactive, educational, recreational and free tools to make contributions to address the issue of kissing bugs throughout the country. • Raise awareness on the health issue related to Chagas disease, involving citizens in vector monitoring.
Description of citizen participation: Through the project’s social media or by a digital, educational and free app, citizens are invited to participate in the monitoring of kissing bugs, mainly of the species related to Chagas disease. Using this app, citizen scientists can report the presence of kissing bugs, by submitting photographs and sharing the location detected by their mobile devices. A panel of expert reviewers helps users to identify the species and determine whether it is a potential disease vector. Then, citizen scientists are informed of such determination. If it is a potential insect vector, the user is referred to the nearest health care centers for insect analysis. The photographs provided by citizen scientists are used to develop a neural network to automatically identify kissing bugs in pictures taken with mobile devices.
Time frame. 05/01/2018 – N/A
Project leaders. • Gerardo Aníbal Marti, Centre for Parasitological and Vector Studies (CEPAVE)/National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET)-National University of La Plata (UNLP). • Soledad Ceccarelli, CEPAVE/CONICET-UNLP. • Agustín Balsalobre, CEPAVE/CONICET-UNLP. • Joaquín Cochero, Institute of Limnology “Raúl A. Ringuelet” (ILPLA)/CONICET-UNLP and the Natural Science School and Museum (FCNYM)/UNLP.
Contact information. Email: geovinapp@gmail.com Web: geovin.com.ar Facebook: facebook.com/GeoVinApp Instagram: instagram.com/geovinapp
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3Good health and well-being
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