To control or prevent poverty or neglected diseases, like Chagas disease, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach is important, which is how the “Healthy Living Initiative” was created. With the participation of architects, sociologists, communication specialists, biologists, and social development promoters, among others, the biological, social, and environmental determinants were able to be understood as well as the community’s dynamics, its needs, and its strengths regarding its own development. Through the “Healthy Homes for Healthy Living” strategy, we have developed, with the community’s participation, healthy environments that constitute real physical barriers between triatomines and those who live in Loja Province’s rural areas.

Through the lab “ComCiencia: link between science and the community,” we work to increase awareness of how the academic world solves our society’s problems. Scientific dissemination supported by digital tools allows us to connect these two worlds in a creative, interesting, and fun way.

Line of research (PUCE): Health and vulnerable groups; Biodiversity conservation; Education, Communication, cultures and society. 

  

 

Line of research (PUCE): Health and vulnerable groups. 

We aim at developing multidisciplinary research projects that improve our understanding of structural circumstances related to the occurrence of chronic and infectious diseases. Through the Healthy Living Initiative, we seek to implement our knowledge in socio-economic, behavioral, and cultural aspects of communities exposed to Chagas disease in southern Ecuador, and in the development of sustainable initiatives to combat and control Chagas disease and other illnesses affecting neglected populations. We intend to bridge the theory-practice gap, and to apply scientific and local knowledge in the developing of community-impact projects that advance family and individual health and wellbeing. Particularly, our strategy “Healthy Homes for Healthy Living” has enabled us to develop sustainable environments that avoid the presence of triatomines in rural homes, considering rural conditions and resources available in local communities.

Development of studies about the state policy on the eradication of gender violence in Ecuador. The analysis of this problem demonstrates the sensitivity and support of the academy in the construction of equality. The main commitment is the generation and dissemination of knowledge that makes gender-based violence visible in different populations or areas, consequences on physical and mental health, analysis of roles and stereotypes, as well as the design and implementation of preventive programs with verification of its effectiveness. This last aspect, with the intention of expanding the social and scientific transfer of prevention programs implemented in the community.

We research the biological, socioeconomic, and environmental determinants of chronic and infectious diseases with the goal of allowing public health officials to incorporate scientific evidence into their decision-making, policy development, and program implementation. We also work on public health policy and program evaluation so that authorities can understand the effectiveness of their programs and, in this way, better guide their processes of improvement.

 

Our research projects focus on the molecular epidemiology of Plasmodium, the parasite causing malaria. We are interested in examining the importance of asymptomatic cases in the persistence of malaria outbreaks in Ecuador, Plasmodium resistance to anti-malaria medicines, and the genetics of Plasmodium populations to determine their origin and mobility. Analyzing these topics is key to contribute to the elimination of malaria in Ecuador.

This area of CISeAL is in charge of the collection, identification, taxonomic classification, supervision, and maintenance of triatomine colonies. We conduct studies on life cycles, antennal phenotype, geometric morphometrics, and molecular analysis of triatomine species genetic diversity. Also, we develop molecular models of the infectious agent causing Chagas disease. We also provide consulting services and support for Chagas disease prevention campaigns in rural communities through health promotion strategies designed to be delivered in the home that include educational materials, such as brochures and digital games.

Line of research (PUCE): Health and vulnerable groups.