Teresa Nazareth

My main scientific interest is the community’s role in promoting health.

I have been mainly working on vector-borne diseases, such as Dengue, Zika or Chikungunya, either for the engagement in preventing practices, or for informed participation.

Regarding the engagement in health-preventing practices, we developed a tool – EP-Score, i.e. Essential Perception Score – to assess community perceptions, estimate myths and suggest priority messages for a prevention campaign. EP-Score has been being applied in several settings to support Dengue/Chikungunya prevention campaigns (in Madeira Island, French Guiana, and Guinea- Bissau) and was also adapted for other diseases, namely Zika or tuberculosis.

For the community informed participation, we have been exploring the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities (SWOT) of using modified insects in vector-borne disease prevention. Our aim is to describe and summarize in accessible language what is known about this topic in order to facilitate the participation of community and the decision makers in their reflection.

1. Nazareth T, Sousa CA, Porto G, Gonçalves L, Seixas G, Antunes L, Silva AC, Teodósio R. (2015) Impact of a dengue outbreak experience in the preventive perceptions of the community from a temperate region: Madeira Island, Portugal, PLoS Negl Trop Dis 9(3): e0003395. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0003395.
2. Nazareth T, Seixas G, Sousa CA, Climate change and mosquito-borne diseases in Leal Filho W, Ulisses Azeiteiro U and Alves, F eds. Climate Change and Health: improving resilience and reducing risks (2015) Springer. (Book chapter)
3. Nazareth T, Teodósio R, Porto G, Gonçalves L, Seixas G, Silva AC, Sousa CA (2014). Strengthening the perception-assessment tools for Dengue prevention: a cross-sectional survey in a temperate region (Madeira, Portugal). BMC Public Health, 15:14-39. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-39
4. Parreira R, Conceição C, Centeno-Lima S, Marques N, Saraiva JC, Abreu C, Sá L.,Sarmento A, Atouguia J, Moneti V, Azevedo T, Nina J, Mansinho K, Antunes A, Teodósio R, Nazareth T, Seixas J. Angola’s 2013 dengue outbreak: Clinical, laboratory and molecular analyses of cases from four Portuguese institutions. J Inf Dev Ctries : 8(9), 2014, pp. 1210 – 1215
5. Nazareth T (2014). Assessment of community perception regarding Dengue prevention in Madeira Island, Portugal (PhD thesis). Universidade do Porto, Portugal