How to get the mites early
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Ameer Hamza
DCC has been spending millions annually on thousands of litres of poisons, fogging and spraying them now and then, and inevitably leaving behind serious side effects on vulnerable citizens ---- ranging from nausea and headache, loose motions, conjunctivitis and even chronic respiratory problems. Neither the victims nor the doctors seem ever to link these health conditions in the spraying season, to the mosquito control poisons flying about in the city. Such use of pesticides in open air should be shot down in the interest of the well-being of the people, as in any case it is impossible to kill adult mosquitoes like this, unless pesticides are used like torrential rain ! So DCC should stop pretending. But what can we safely and effectively do to control mosquitoes and contain them at tolerable levels?
Many fault the corporation with spending on totally unnecessary heads, showcasing activity simply to feed the egos of the top dogs rather than to serve the tax payers. The tragedy of Bangladesh is that the incidence of Pukur Churi (Grand Larceny) is so common in most spheres of public life that nobody seems to care or question. In the mosquito question all we need is common sense and a desire to really serve the people.
The life cycles of different kinds of mosquitoes inhabiting Bangladesh, specially crowded cities, their disease-carrying potential, breeding and feeding habits, and how the most harmful species can be controlled, need to be kept in mind if mosquito control is to be the real goal rather than making money through purchase of pesticides and this and that. Over a hundred varieties thrive in Bangladesh but only a few of them transmit diseases like dengue, malaria, yellow fever and filariasis/elephantiasis. There is even a friendly kind that feeds on the larvae of other mosquitoes.
An O'level (classes 9 &10) text book on tropical health science should suffice to educate both the community and the DCC officials on how best to plan a reasonably effective anti-mosquito drive. But to be fair, one must not put all the onus of tackling these ubiquitous mites on the DCC alone. Although the vector controllers are not exactly famous for their work ethics or their competence, it must be said that even if they had the skills, the job at hand is far too big and complex for any one government authority to tackle effectively, given the appalling degradation of the living environment in urban Bangladesh. Community and corporate involvement is therefore indispensable if the mosquito population is to be kept down all year round, instead of going for action when they grow to overwhelm the public.
The relentless expansion of squatter settlements and their unbearable squalor ---- all consequences of unwise planning and skewed priorities ---- contribute to the runaway growth of pests and vectors in the cities. Attending to their rights as citizens --- guaranteeing municipal services, for instance ---- would be the first essential step towards arresting further degradation of the natural and built environment, and in the process, making the habitat less vector-friendly. Clogged drains and stagnant water bodies must be regularly cleaned and garbage disposed of in sustainable ways.
The natural drainage system has been effectively destroyed by both legal and illegal grabbers of the network of canals, lakes and rivers that used to keep greater Dhaka healthy and resourceful once upon a time. By the1980s most of these water bodies had shrunk under lopsided development plans---- destroying Dhaka's God-given sweet water resources and degrading the very efficient drainage and waterways system that greater Dhaka was famous for. Today, most of the 20 or more of these water sources have no outlet. Is it any wonder that, with the growing density of the population, the mountains of garbage generated by them, that vectors like rats and mosquitoes, should breed with abandon?
Our decision-makers should realize that vector control has to be a round-the- year activity. If the municipal authorities worked in close cooperation with the community and with organizations and individuals, an effective and sustainable 'control mechanism' could be put in place. Chemical poisons must not be considered the best option. Utmost caution must be exercised not only because they can induce resistance in the insects but also because they increase the burden of toxins in the environment. Indeed, pesticide-based mosquito control programmes are reportedly linked to the increased incidence of blood cancers in target areas! Haphazard spraying and fogging thus do more harm to human health than they do to either adult mosquitoes or their larvae. Let us therefore keep the life cycles of the insects in view, and take timely action against eggs, larvae and pupae, instead of waiting for the winged insects to emerge. Ordinary kerosene, instead of the costly and deadly insecticides, would be enough to kill these off. All it needs is political will and community perserverance.
DCC has been spending millions annually on thousands of litres of poisons, fogging and spraying them now and then, and inevitably leaving behind serious side effects on vulnerable citizens ---- ranging from nausea and headache, loose motions, conjunctivitis and even chronic respiratory problems. Neither the victims nor the doctors seem ever to link these health conditions in the spraying season, to the mosquito control poisons flying about in the city. Such use of pesticides in open air should be shot down in the interest of the well-being of the people, as in any case it is impossible to kill adult mosquitoes like this, unless pesticides are used like torrential rain ! So DCC should stop pretending. But what can we safely and effectively do to control mosquitoes and contain them at tolerable levels?
Many fault the corporation with spending on totally unnecessary heads, showcasing activity simply to feed the egos of the top dogs rather than to serve the tax payers. The tragedy of Bangladesh is that the incidence of Pukur Churi (Grand Larceny) is so common in most spheres of public life that nobody seems to care or question. In the mosquito question all we need is common sense and a desire to really serve the people.
The life cycles of different kinds of mosquitoes inhabiting Bangladesh, specially crowded cities, their disease-carrying potential, breeding and feeding habits, and how the most harmful species can be controlled, need to be kept in mind if mosquito control is to be the real goal rather than making money through purchase of pesticides and this and that. Over a hundred varieties thrive in Bangladesh but only a few of them transmit diseases like dengue, malaria, yellow fever and filariasis/elephantiasis. There is even a friendly kind that feeds on the larvae of other mosquitoes.
An O'level (classes 9 &10) text book on tropical health science should suffice to educate both the community and the DCC officials on how best to plan a reasonably effective anti-mosquito drive. But to be fair, one must not put all the onus of tackling these ubiquitous mites on the DCC alone. Although the vector controllers are not exactly famous for their work ethics or their competence, it must be said that even if they had the skills, the job at hand is far too big and complex for any one government authority to tackle effectively, given the appalling degradation of the living environment in urban Bangladesh. Community and corporate involvement is therefore indispensable if the mosquito population is to be kept down all year round, instead of going for action when they grow to overwhelm the public.
The relentless expansion of squatter settlements and their unbearable squalor ---- all consequences of unwise planning and skewed priorities ---- contribute to the runaway growth of pests and vectors in the cities. Attending to their rights as citizens --- guaranteeing municipal services, for instance ---- would be the first essential step towards arresting further degradation of the natural and built environment, and in the process, making the habitat less vector-friendly. Clogged drains and stagnant water bodies must be regularly cleaned and garbage disposed of in sustainable ways.
The natural drainage system has been effectively destroyed by both legal and illegal grabbers of the network of canals, lakes and rivers that used to keep greater Dhaka healthy and resourceful once upon a time. By the1980s most of these water bodies had shrunk under lopsided development plans---- destroying Dhaka's God-given sweet water resources and degrading the very efficient drainage and waterways system that greater Dhaka was famous for. Today, most of the 20 or more of these water sources have no outlet. Is it any wonder that, with the growing density of the population, the mountains of garbage generated by them, that vectors like rats and mosquitoes, should breed with abandon?
Our decision-makers should realize that vector control has to be a round-the- year activity. If the municipal authorities worked in close cooperation with the community and with organizations and individuals, an effective and sustainable 'control mechanism' could be put in place. Chemical poisons must not be considered the best option. Utmost caution must be exercised not only because they can induce resistance in the insects but also because they increase the burden of toxins in the environment. Indeed, pesticide-based mosquito control programmes are reportedly linked to the increased incidence of blood cancers in target areas! Haphazard spraying and fogging thus do more harm to human health than they do to either adult mosquitoes or their larvae. Let us therefore keep the life cycles of the insects in view, and take timely action against eggs, larvae and pupae, instead of waiting for the winged insects to emerge. Ordinary kerosene, instead of the costly and deadly insecticides, would be enough to kill these off. All it needs is political will and community perserverance.