Dengue, the biggest public health challenge in this country since the COVID-19 pandemic, has been difficult to manage in the regions of south and central Trinidad with the highest number of cases.
When the Ministry of Health confirmed over the weekend that there had been a fourth death and the number of cases had risen to 392, that only added to the panic over the outbreak. And, as the number of cases increases, there are more calls for spraying to be done.
Regional corporations on the frontlines of mosquito eradication efforts have been responding to pressure from their burgesses to carry out the spraying exercises that so many see as the most effective way of getting rid of mosquitoes. They, in turn, have been passing on the blame to the Insect Vector Control Division for not having sufficient equipment and manpower to do spraying on the scale demanded by the public.
On the other hand, other measures to control the mosquito population are being ignored, and there is even outrage in some quarters over the fines for householders who do not clean up their properties and remove mosquito breeding sites. One of the biggest lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of providing the public with information on public health issues.
So, before any misinformation about dengue prevention takes hold, the Ministry of Health should embark on a targetted public awareness campaign. That includes educating citizens about chemical extermination methods, which can be detrimental to health and the surrounding environment.
There is a heavy reliance on community-wide mosquito control programmes that are supposed to impact the immune, reproductive, or nervous systems of mosquitoes but may also harm other insects, including pollinators, that are beneficial to the environment.
Ground spraying is one of the least effective mosquito control techniques. That includes the systems widely used here, where ultra-low-volume machines are used to spray pesticides. This doesn’t exterminate mosquitoes completely. There is a risk that the mosquitoes and larvae that are left after these spraying exercises develop resistance to these chemicals, so stronger, more toxic solutions might be needed in the future.
Mosquito control is more effective at the larval stage before the insects become biting, disease-carrying adults, so the focus should be on eradicating large numbers of larvae. In the interest of T&T’s fragile environment, more emphasis should be placed on effective, non-hazardous methods to control mosquitoes.
Instead of all of the hullabaloo over the spraying that cannot be done, in the regional corporations with the highest number of dengue cases, more energy should go into finding simple, effective, and environmentally safe ways to reduce mosquito populations.
Rushing in to spray a community after a dengue death or upsurge in cases isn’t the best option. Instead, be more proactive about keeping mosquitoes away before people start getting bitten and infected. It can be as simple as identifying and eliminating all forms of standing water and cleaning up stagnant, garbage-filled drains and watercourses.
Cleaning up the garbage indiscriminately dumped on roadsides and in empty lots is another overlooked but environmentally friendly way to get rid of mosquitoes, with the bonus of eliminating spaces where other disease-carrying vermin breed and flourish. Instead of the uncertainty of spraying, which also incurs significant costs, put more effort into simpler, tried-and-true methods to fight dengue.
Destroy mosquitoes, not the environment.