Vector-borne diseases are transmitted to humans through another living organism, such as malaria via the mosquito. This type of disease accounts for roughly 17% of all disease and causes nearly a million deaths annually. In this talk Professor Michael Bonsall will discuss vector-borne diseases, how we might control them and how maths and modern genetics might help. He will also provide some recent insights from work in the Zoology Department in Oxford on the unfolding Zika epidemic in the Americas.