Fighting mosquitoes at micro-level

Health Department will carry out mass anti-larval work throughout the district

The Health Department is going at micro-level to get rid of mosquito breeding sources. It is now covering an entire municipal area or town panchayat with anti-larval work in a day. Already, the ‘mass anti-larval’ work has been taken up in Arakkonam municipality, Pallikonda town panchayat, Sholinghur town panchayat, Kaniyambadi and zone I of Vellore Corporation, K. Poonkodi, deputy director of health services, Vellore said.

“Through the one-day anti-larval work, we are aiming at source reduction. We mobilised about 2,000 persons, of which 1,800 were students to be part of the effort in Arakkonam Municipality. The students visited houses and identified mosquito breeding sources, while domestic breeding checkers destroyed the sources,” she explained.

Workers of the local bodies were also involved. These measures were to prevent vector-borne diseases, particularly dengue.

“The students also educate the public in the area on preventive measures. They create awareness on how the house and surroundings should be free from mosquito breeding sources,” she added.

Each area is divided into smaller units. For instance, the 36 wards of Arakkonam Municipality were divided into 12 zones of three wards each. Teams were deputed to the zones to take up the work.

“We had deputed supervisors at the micro-level in each of the local body area. A group of 10 to 15 persons take up the work in a street at a time, and move on to the next when they have completed,” she added.

This week, the department plans to take up the anti-larval work in Walajah and Arcot municipalities, Panapakkam and Kalavai town panchayats and another zone of Vellore Corporation.

In addition, Dr. Poonkodi said each of the 20 blocks in the district has a rapid response team. This team is taking up dengue preventive/control measures based on admission of fever cases. She noted that there was a drastic reduction in the number of fever cases in the district when compared to last year.

“The mosquito density goes up immediately after rains. But we are taking measures to reduce the sources,” she said.