Dhaka North to emphasise raising awareness to eliminate mosquito
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Md Atiqul Islam said from now on more importance will be given to raising awareness among the people to get rid of mosquitoes in the city.
"In addition to the various steps taken by the city corporation, the awareness of people at all levels is very important for eliminating mosquitoes. Educational institutions and organisations need to be included in the awareness raising programme in our country, just like it is done in the USA," he said at a meeting on preparing an action plan for mosquito control in Dhaka North Nagar Bhaban in Gulshan-2 on Thursday.
Mayor Atiqul Islam said, "There is a textbook titled 'Mosquito Bites are Bad', which is used in every educational institution in the US. Students study the book and colour the pictures in it. We have to provide education on the subject in the form of textbooks and cartoons for our school students as well."
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A delegation from Dhaka North visited Florida in January this year at the invitation and funding of the US Department of Commerce's Commercial Law Development Programme (CLDP). Yesterday's meeting was held for preparing an action plan using the experience of the visit to the US.
Atiqul said, "We spray the same insecticide at the same rate in all areas 365 days a year, but in Miami, Florida the authorities first identify the mosquito species, then they decide to apply the insecticide. So, our job will be to apply insecticide by identifying mosquito species and studying their behavior in the lab.
"As setting up labs is a time-consuming process, we want to start operations in various university labs as soon as possible."
The Dhaka North mayor also said, "Only 20 entomologists are working across the whole country, which is very inadequate. We need to prepare more entomologists. We will also build a strong team of skilled entomologists at DNCC. Actions should be taken only after conducting research on mosquito control."
He also directed the officials concerned to publish a journal containing information on mosquito controlling activities every three months.
