SEVERAL persons in Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) were recently trained on how to control the Aedes aegypti mosquito that causes yellow fever, chikungunya, dengue and zika diseases.
Held last Wednesday and Thursday at the Lachmansingh Primary School at Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice, the training was organised by the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and the Environmental Health Services of Region 5. The theme was community-focused integrated vector control, which aims at discovering mosquito breeding places in and around habitations in communities, and destroying them.
Ms Allana Walters, Planning and Training Officer at the CDC, said the training was one element of the programme of the National Zika Response Coordinating Committee that was specifically aimed at equipping members of communities with the skills for finding and destroying the breeding places of the mosquito, and by so doing, enhancing the health and safety of the public.

Those who participated in the two-day programme included staffers of the health services in Region 5, volunteers, and staffers of the Neighbuorhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) within the region.

The resource persons were: Ms Walters; Mr Keith Moore of the Vector Control Services (VCS); Mr David Williams, Chief Inspector of the VCS; Ms Kim Morgan, CDC volunteer; and Mr Ignatius Merai, Senior Environmental Health Officer of the Environmental Health Services in Region 5.

The topics included information on the breeding sites preferred by the Aedes aegypti; data collection; prevention and protection; and integrated vector control management, theory and practice.

Participants were also briefed on the symptoms of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, zika, chikungunya and filariasis.

Walters said the CDC had completed similar programmes in Regions Four (Demerara/Mahaica), Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) and Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo). She said participants are expected to increase public awareness of the importance of vector control measures, as well as assist in implementing such measures in their various communities through the use of time tested methods, in addition to fogging, which only kills mosquitoes in flight.