Reducing dengue mosquito breeding across a school site
Typical job — school, Colombo district
The situation
A large site with grounds, roof gutters, plant beds and a maintenance yard, going into the monsoon. Fogging had been used before each term and had not changed much, because it kills the adults present that morning and nothing else.
Our approach
The site was walked for breeding sites rather than treated blind: blocked gutters, plant saucers, water storage without proper lids, an unused tarpaulin holding water, tyres in the maintenance yard, and drip trays under air conditioning. A written list went to the caretaking team for the containers they could remove and keep removing, since that is the part that lasts. Water that could not be drained was larvicided, and treatment was scheduled outside teaching hours across the monsoon months.