Social mobilization to eliminate mosquito breeding

Community work with moms: Barranquilla has an established network of health walkers, volunteers and promoters that meet with moms to discuss issues such as zika, dengue or chikungunya. There they discuss the best measures for protection themselves their families.

Children Volunteer: This group of girls volunteer at their Cruzada Social Technical Institute of Barranquilla making sure that it stay free of mosquitoes that transmit dengue, chikungunya and zika. Everyday they review the perimeter of the school to ensure the proper disposal of mosquito breeding sites.

Learning through play: One of the ways for children to learn about dengue, chikungunya, and zika is through educational games. They learn how to prevent these diseases, and in turn carry the messages home.

Health in my house: Los caminantes de la salud—Hikers for Health in Barranquilla visit families in their homes, educating on how to prevent diseases and how to use health services. When they detect a health risk, they make a referral to the nearest health center.

Displays and diagnoses from home: A worker at the Ministry of Health of Colombia, prepares to obtain blood samples from a person afflicted with dengue.

Review in the backyards: People are responsible for protecting, cleaning and freeing from mosquitoes breeding sites. Removing unused objects is important for combating the mosquitoes that transmit zika, dengue and chikungunya.

Inspection of an auto bodyshop: In Barranquilla, initiatives such as Mi Cuadra sin Dengue — neighborhood without dengue- mobilize health workers to educate the population on how to eliminate mosquito breeding sites. The tires where rainwater collects are perfect mosquito breeding sites. Old tires are removed, while serviceable tires are placed indoors.

Water accumulation in car tires: The unused tires found in this auto bodyshop are a source of mosquito breeding sites. When rainwater is stored, the female Aedes aegypti lay its eggs within it, thus multiplying the vector. It is therefore very important not to keep unused tires outdoors.

Removing water containers: All useless objects that can become outdoor still-water tanks should be removed, because they run the risk of becoming a breeding site for mosquitoes that transmit dengue, zika, or chikungunya.

Learning about the mosquito Aedes aegypti: Families must learn how to store water safely so that containers do not become breeding sites for those mosquitoes that transmits dengue, chikungunya or zika. Water plants are conducive to the accumulation of mosquito larvae places.

Good use of water containers at home: The female Aedes mosquito lays its eggs every 3 or 4 days in the containers of water. That is why, it is vital to be attentive to water containers currently in use, such, as flower vases, changing the water every 4 days and washing them with soap before replacing with new water.

The cycle of the mosquito and larvae: The stagnant water within plant containers is well placed for the accumulation of the vector Aedes aegypti eggs, which then hatch into larvae, become pupae and then finally into adult mosquitoes.

Control over breeding focus: Health workers review and find mosquito larvae in standing water within one of the containers at an enclosure of tires and useless iron containers.

Research vectors: An entomologist installs a trap designed to capture adult mosquitoes in a house. Later, he takes the specimens into his laboratory to study their behavior and patterns of change, such as resistance to insecticides.

The life cycle of a mosquito: An egg can develop into an adult mosquito within 7 to 10 days. The elimination of breeding sites is crucial to reducing the population of mosquitoes that transmit dengue disease, zika or chikungunya.