Dominica joins the rest of the Caribbean in observing Mosquito Awareness Week
Dominica joins the rest of the Caribbean in observing Mosquito Awareness Week from May 6th – 12th, 2019, under the theme: ‘Small bite, big threat’ and the slogan ‘Fight the bite, destroy mosquito breeding sites’.
The annual event introduced in 2016, is a collaborative initiative between the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
It is to raise awareness about the connection between mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit, such as dengue, chikungunya, Zika, yellow fever, and malaria. It is designed to strengthen existing initiatives in the region and mobilize the public and communities to take action and eliminate mosquito breeding sites.
The objectives of Caribbean Mosquito Awareness Week include:
- To promote education, awareness and community participation in vector control
- To promote communication and cooperation
- To maintain vector control activities on the political and community agenda, and
- To serve as a platform for integrated activities.
The slogan is a call to movement, organization, work, responsibility, and learning about and protecting against the mosquito vectors that transmit disease, which includes eliminating their principal breeding sites and avoiding contact with adult vectors.
It also calls out to health workers, doctors, government officials, community leaders, and representatives of business associations and other agencies and organizations involved in disease prevention and environmental protect
Dominica has been faced with the challenges associated with Aedes agypti mosquito with a Dengue Fever outbreak in 2010-2011, Chikungunya in 2013-2014 and Zika in 2016. Over the years, the water drum has been identified as the most common breeding container of the Aedes aegypti mosquito. (Results of a Dengue Fever survey conducted by the Ministry of Health in 2006, found that the drum was the most common mosquito breeding container in Dominica (61.6 %).
In 2016 the Ministry of Health, with financial and technical assistance provided by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO, undertook a “Mosquito Proof Your Water Drum” initiative to reduce the potential for Aedes aegypti mosquito breeding. Demonstrations were done in several communities to promote the mosquito proof drum and to encourage residents to use it as a prototype for retrofitting their own water drums.
This year, the Environmental Health Department of the Ministry of Health and Social Services will be collaborating with National Pest & Termite Company Ltd, Dominica Red Cross and a number of schools in observance of this event.
This article is copyright © 2019 DOM767
