Larvicide campaign vs. dengue carrying mosquitoes set tomorrow

CEBU, Philippines - Over 1,000 barangay health workers and hundreds of volunteers are expected to join the second inter-organization Dengue Larvicide Campaign in four major cities in Cebu tomorrow.

The Larvicide campaign is a joint effort of several Rotary groups and other non-government and private organizations who all contributed to fund the purchase of larvicide Temephos or Abate, an organic phosphate insecticide effective against the larvae of mosquitoes.

Temephos is applied to the breeding places of mosquitoes like canals, stagnant water and the like to kill the larvae.

Their target is to kill the larvae of Aedes Aegypti, the dengue-carrying mosquito.

Dr. Wyben Briones of the Cebu Medical Society said the public must not be afraid of Temephos because the chemical has been used since the 1970s.

He assured it is DOH-recommended and that they made extensive research before they chose the product.

Briones said that one gram of Temephos will be applied per square meter of open water. They already cautioned the health workers and volunteers not to apply the chemical to commercial ponds and sources of drinking water just to prevent unnecessary fear among the public.

Briones said the barangay health workers have identified ahead the breeding places that they will be targeting tomorrow.

The volunteers will be split into 200 teams. They are set to visit the top 40 barangays in Cebu City with high cases of dengue and top 20 barangays each in Mandaue City, Talisay City and Lapu-Lapu City.

They have a total of 100 kilos of Abate or about P600,000 worth.

Last year, the team visited 38 barangays in the same cities and applied about 40 kilos of Abate. They estimated to have prevented 6.25 million larvae from developing into mosquitoes.

The larvicide, when applied to water is effective for two to four months.

Briones said that last year, after the campaign, there was an 84 percent decrease in the number of dengue cases.

Briones said they expect to reach more than that this year considering that the campaign this year is double the forces last year. (FREEMAN)