A survey by the Directorate General of Health Services or DGHS found that under-construction buildings are increasingly becoming nesting sites for mosquitoes. According to the Health Directorate, a lack of awareness — and even unwillingness — on the part of construction companies to address the issue is further compounding the situation. Although the threat of the mosquito menace was relatively low during the dry winter season, it can resurface in the monsoon—which has started. If the officials of DNCC and DSCC had used larvicide and adulticide effectively the mosquitoes would be limited to breeding in specific areas. Unfortunately they are using mosquito control equipment which are diluted and thus ineffective. We don’t know how the quality of the mosquito control sprays which the Corporations buy.
Neither do we know their effectiveness or ability of this spray to actually kill mosquitoes. The only thing we can be sure of is that corruption plays a big part in the procurement of such equipment. In the absence of a safe and effective tetravalent vaccine for dengue viruses, vector control is the only method to prevent viral disease. The main lesson learned from other countries in South East Asia is that for a vector control program to be effective, it must be based on carefully collected and analyzed epidemiologic and entomologic surveillance data, with particular emphasis on ecologic factors that determine where, how, and when to initiate vector control.
But we simply don’t have the willingness to take part in such operations. The attitude of our local administration is that dengue is here to stay. If our mosquito residents take it upon themselves to bite us at their convenience then it’s our problem. For the City Corporations it’s a matter of minor inconvenience.
