Darryl McGinn has previously been directly engaged by the Ministry of Health (initially via Healthcare Hawke's Bay) as an International Expert on Mosquito Management. Since January 1999, McGinn was directly involved in providing expert technical advice to the Biosecurity response to the newly discovered Aedes (Ochelerotatus) camptorhynchus (Thomson 1868) in Napier. Technical advice supported delimiting processes to define the boundaries of infestation, ground-based and aerial control technologies and systems, selection of aerial applicators and implementation of eradication measures, quality assurance and eradication evaluation.

 

From January 1999 to September 2001, McGinn attended the MoH SSM TAG as an observer to provide practical technical advice on development of the ultimate eradication response protocols for SSM. In September 2001 McGinn was invited to join the membership of the SSM TAG and was contracted to the MoH for this purpose. Active participation continued until responsibility for the eradication response passed to BNZ. During his tenure on the MoH SSM TAG, McGinn provided direct advice and recommendations regarding the establishment of a National Saltmarsh Mosquito Surveillance System to operate alongside the SSM Eradication programme. The NSP that is in place now is a direct outcome of the input and advice provided by the MoH SSM TAG.

 

At the commencement of the NSP in 2005, McGinn was engaged by the successful contractor as the Independent External Auditor to provide MoH with annual reports on the operation of the NSP. Through direct involvement with the development of the NSP via the MoH SSM TAG and by working directly with the NSP contractor in an independent audit role, McGinn has a unique and direct level of detailed knowledge of the existing NSP operation. All of the NSP sites have been included in previous audits. Database systems and diagnostic (mosquito identification and reporting) services have been included within the scope of previous audits.

 

Since 2003, McGinn has been engaged by MoH as an expert in mosquito surveillance to support its Border Health training of Public Health Unit: Health Protection Officers, MAF Biosecurity Officers and others for accreditation and continuation as Authorised Officers under the Biosecurity Act 1993.

 

In September 2008, McGinn was engaged by the MoH to undertake a formal review of mosquito surveillance within New Zealand. The scope of this review included the performance of Public Health Units undertaking Border Health Protection duties and the National Saltmarsh Surveillance Programme. At this time McGinn was also engaged as a sub-contractor by Massey University under the MAF project (RFT 07-10427) Development of Surveillance for Vectors and Vector-Borne Disease in New Zealand. Through agreement between MoH and MAF these two similar projects were combined into one project. The review report was titled “Mosquito Surveillance Review 2008 undertaken for Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Ministry of Health by Darryl McGinn”.  This report’s findings were absorbed into the final report to MAF titled:

Development of Surveillance for Vectors and Vector-Borne Disease in New Zealand 10427

Surveillance systems design

J. McKenzie, A. Heath, R. Jakob-Hoff, R. Cane, M. Disbury, D. McGinn, V. Hope6

 

Outside New Zealand, McGinn provides consultancy and operational surveillance services throughout Australia and the Asia Pacific Region. McGinn is a Medical Entomologist graduating from The University of Queensland in 1996 with a Masters of Scientific Studies (Entomology). McGinn’s Undergraduate qualification of Bachelor of Applied Science - with Distinction (Environmental Health) was awarded by the Queensland University of Technology in 1989. McGinn has worked exclusively in the field of Mosquito Management for the past 20 years.

 

The Managing Director of Mosquito Consulting Services Pty Ltd was previously employed within Local Government in Australia (Brisbane City Council) as the Business Manager Mosquito and Pest Services (M&PS). M&PS was a semi-commercial unit tasked with providing operational mosquito surveillance, control and external consultancy services on behalf of Brisbane City. As Business Manager, McGinn had responsibility for an annual operating budget of Au$ 4.2M including $ 1.5M of external revenue associated with consultancies and operational works across Australia and internationally. M&PS employed a workforce of 41 staff (in 1999/2000) across professional, technical, field operations and administrative roles.