Health Ministry working to reduce mosquito population

…as citizens urged to liaise with Vector Control Fogging team

Amid the ongoing rainy season, the Health Ministry has been working assiduously to control mosquito population in communities across the country, and as such, is urging members of the public to cooperate with the Ministry’s vector control fogging team as they execute fogging exercises across the country.
This call to action was made by the Health Ministry’s Acting Director of the Vector Control Services, Dr Reza Niles-Robin, during a recent edition of the Ministry’s Health Matters programme.
According to Dr Robin, her department is responsible for overseeing and conducting fogging exercises within the country.
“We are speaking of the Aedes Department, and here is where we principally do a lot of the fogging…and a fogging is actually a form of adulticiding, and that simply is a big word to say we’re trying to kill the adult mosquito, because it’s the adult mosquito that does the biting and does the transmission. However, the fogging is one component of many…. you could do your part at home along with the fogging; these are complementary.”
Currently, Dr Robin highlighted that these exercises are being executed across the country, in all ten administrative religions. On this point, the Acting Director urged citizens to be respectful to the persons doing their job within the various communities.
“We ask that you treat them with kindness when you see them because I know that some people, they do have one and two complaints – and we’re trying to address them all, but we also ask that you collaborate with the programmes so that when you see them fogging, you cheer them on, you open your windows – you know – you prepare, you move people who may have breathing issues or disorders such as asthma, for example.”
She added, “You just move them away from the area so that they don’t breathe in the smoke. Those are some of the few simple things. But I’d also advise that they look on the Ministry of Health page, we put up a fogging advisory.”
In their efforts to reduce mosquito-borne diseases, the Ministry of Health in January had invested approximately $646 million to ensure that every region of Guyana receives fogging machines, chemicals and other essential vector control supplies. More than 100 fogging machines and the relevant supplies are to be deployed to aid in national efforts against diseases such as malaria and dengue.
With the implementation of this initiative, it is hoped that dengue, malaria and filaria cases will decrease significantly. As it relates to stats on these diseases, last year Guyana recorded some 10,000 dengue cases and 24,000 cases of malaria.