Prior to the current public health emergency following the emergence of chikungunya and Zika Virus Disease in the Americas during 2014 and 2015, multi-country research investigated between 2011 and 2013 the efficacy of novel Aedes aegypti intervention packages through cluster randomised controlled trials in four Latin-American cities: Fortaleza (Brazil); Girardot (Colombia), Acapulco (Mexico) and Salto (Uruguay). Results from the trials led to a scaling up effort of the interventions at city levels. Scaling up refers to deliberate efforts to increase the impact of successfully tested health interventions to benefit more people and foster policy and program development in a sustainable way. The different scenarios represent examples for a 'vertical approach' and a 'horizontal approach'. This paper presents the analysis of a preliminary process evaluation of the scaling up efforts in the mentioned cites, with a focus on challenges and enabling factors encountered by the research teams, analysing the main social, political, administrative, financial and acceptance factors.
Keywords: Aedes aegypti; CONACYT: Concejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología; ITS: Insecticide Treated Screens; LLIN: long-lasting insecticidal-nets; Latin America; MoH: Ministry of Health; NGOs: Non Gubermental Organizations; PAHO: Panamerican Health Organization; TDR-IDRC: Special Programme of Training in Tropical Medicine-International Development Research Center; VS: Vivienda Segura; WHO: World Health Organization; prevention; process evaluation; scaling up; vector control.