Gradual reduction in mosquito breeding in Westmoreland

Chief Public Health Inspector for Westmoreland, Steve Morris, says the parish is seeing a gradual reduction in mosquito breeding, as intensified vector-control measures continue to yield results.

Providing an update at the recent meeting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation in Savanna-la-Mar, Morris reported that the parish’s aedes index has declined.

“Our team carried out 34,725 visits across the parish in March and we found 2,788 premises with active mosquito breeding, which brings our aedes index now at 8.03 per cent. This is a little down from where it was at 8.24 per cent in the previous month, so we are still on the downward trajectory for our aedes index,” he said.

The aedes index is used to measure the level of mosquito infestation, particularly the species responsible for spreading diseases such as dengue.

Morris noted that vector-control activities have been scaled up across the parish, with officers visiting communities and undertaking fogging operations to reduce the mosquito population.

“A total of 186 communities across the parish were visited, and we fogged 55 of these communities during the month. Currently, we are still only doing evening foggings, and we have been having some challenges recently because of the rains, but we are trying our best to contain that,” he pointed out.

The Chief Public Health Inspector is urging residents to play an active role in reducing mosquito breeding by maintaining their surroundings.

“We also want to continue to remind our residents to at least once per week, search and destroy potential breeding sites in and around their premises and workplaces to keep our mosquito population down,” Morris said.

He pointed out that the parish’s vector control programme is supported by a dedicated team and improved resources, which have strengthened response efforts.

“We currently have 58 permanent [vector-control] staff, and our temporary task worker programme ended on March 27. In terms of our equipment, we currently have 24 fogging machines,” he informed, noting that the parish benefited from additional equipment following the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

“We have received 10 [fogging machines], increasing our stock. We have three ULV [Ultra-Low Volume] machines, and all three of them are functioning. One of them we got new as well after Melissa,” he added.

Morris emphasised that continued collaboration between public health authorities and residents will be critical in sustaining the downward trend in mosquito breeding across the parish.

- JIS News

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