Zoomlion, MOH To Deploy Technology To Map Mosquitoes

Waste management giant, Zoomlion Ghana limited in collaboration with the Ministry of Health at a training program organized for stakeholders executing the malaria control exercise in the Ashanti region disclosed that a technology will be used to map mosquito breeding sites.

The technology which will be used by the team on the field to locate all water bodies in a specific area and record their geocodes will track possible mosquito breeding sites for onward application of Bacillus thuringiensis var israelensis (Bti) to kill them at the larval stage.

Mosquitoes are one of the deadliest animals in the world with the ability to carry and spread disease to humans causing millions of death every year.

A technical vector control officer with the National Malaria Control Program, Mr. Christian Atta-Obeng who trained participants on how to use the technology explained that the application software will help collate useful data on breeding sites for effective larval source management and enhance proper surveillance of mosquito breeding sites and provide useful reports on performance measurement.

Mr. Abel Djangmah, a Senior Vector Control Technical officer of Zoomlion explained that mosquito vector borne diseases is becoming a global health threat to humanity hence the need for the country to develop effective larval source management preparedness plan to confront diseases transmitted by mosquitoes head-on.

He said data from the Ghana Health Services indicates that malaria cases in some health facilities are plateauing whilst some mosquitoes are either developing resistance to some classes of insecticides for in-door residual spraying or biting people before they go to bed at night.

He urged participants to make good use of the scientific knowledge gain from the training to enhance their larviciding activities in their communities and improve health conditions of residents in the Ashanti region.

The participants included districts and municipal environmental health officers, malaria focal persons, district managers and spraying team leaders of Zoomlion in the Ashanti region.