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GHMC’s efforts to curb dengue, malaria paying off

Decrease attributed to series of activities, effective surveillance taken up by the GHMC

By Nabinder Bommala

Updated On - 23 July 2021, 12:33 AM

GHMC’s efforts to curb dengue, malaria paying off — GHMC also installed six mosquito trap machines, one in each zone.

Hyderabad: The number of dengue and malaria cases this year have dipped in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits when compared to previous year.

This year, since January, 56 cases of dengue were reported as against 144 during the same period last year i.e., January-July 2020. Also, only one case of malaria had been reported this year so far as against three cases during the same period.

The decrease in the number of vector borne diseases in the city could be attributed to a series of activities and effective surveillance taken up by the GHMC to control mosquito breeding and spread of vector borne diseases, officials pointed out.

A series of activities taken up by the civic body included identification of disease hot spots and mapping them, spraying larvicides using drones and installing Mosquet machines.

The GHMC also installed six mosquito trap machines, one in each zone to figure out mosquito density and identify the species. Based on the data, information, education and communication (IEC) campaigns, anti-larval activities and fogging were being taken up.

Another measure which yielded results is the weekly anti-larval operations, officials said. As a part of the exercise, on an average 3,000 to 3,500 houses were being identified every week as vulnerable locations for mosquito breeding and these clusters were treated with larvicides. The weekly programme is being taken up by 642 teams.

The removal of water hyacinth, using Internet of things (IOT) devices to improve the efficiency of fogging machines are among the other measures.

Meanwhile, a total of 18 teams with 54 workers were engaged for anti-larval operations in river Musi, from Attapur to Chaderghat bridge. The civic body officials said efforts would be intensified in the coming days.

Tenders process had been completed for removal of water hyacinth and maintenance of 39 lakes in the GHMC limits for three years, said Ram Babu, chief entomologist of GHMC. “Plans are also underway to procure more drones and increase the number of mosquito trap machines,” he added.