Mandaluyong drive vs dengue: P1 for every mosquito
INQUIRER.net stock images
MANILA, Philippines — A village in Mandaluyong City has raised a bounty for one of the biggest killers in the country: A peso for every mosquito or its larva, dead or alive.
It was a “well-intentioned” initiative by Barangay Addition Hills in Mandaluyong, but for the Department of Health (DOH), there may be better and more effective ways to address the surge of dengue cases in the village and the entire country as well.
Under the barangay’s “May Piso sa Mosquito,” villagers will be paid P1 for every mosquito or wriggler (“kiti-kiti”) brought to the barangay hall from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., from Monday to Saturday, starting Feb. 19.
READ: Dengue cases rising in parts of NCR, Calabarzon, C. Luzon – DOH
The surrendered mosquitoes and larvae will be placed in a sealed glass container where they will eventually be killed.
Addition Hills barangay chair Carlito Cernal called it an “alternative” way to fight dengue, on top of their regular cleanup drives and canal desludging activities.
“This project has no ill intentions. It aims to help the current programs of the national and local governments to address our worsening dengue problem,” he said in a Facebook post, in defense of the criticisms the initiative had received.
Addition Hills, according to local health data, posted 44 cases of dengue since the start of the year, with victims mostly schoolchildren.
While a number praised the barangay for its “innovative” project, some residents are worried that this could lead to a “cobra effect,” where a solution to a problem actually makes it worse, similar to other incentive programs that backfired.
Instead of hunting down mosquitoes and their larvae by destroying their habitat, some unscrupulous individuals may breed them in exchange for a huge sum of money.
Aedes mosquitoes, which carry dengue, only need around a week from an egg to become an adult, starting another cycle. Female mosquitoes can lay around a hundred eggs three times in their entire lifespan of up to two weeks.
Coordination a must
While it welcomed the barangay’s initiative, the DOH asked officials of the Addition Hills to discuss its soon-to-be-enforced project with the local health office or even the agency’s regional office, which is just across its barangay hall.
“The [DOH] appreciates efforts by local government officials to fight dengue because it needs multisectoral and whole-of-government approaches. However, we ask for coordination, especially with local health offices and even the DOH, because incentives can be powerful when used properly,” Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo, DOH spokesperson, told the Inquirer.
Domingo said the project “might turn into a counterproductive measure because people might end up propagating the very vector that we are trying to destroy.”
Among the better alternatives that the DOH suggested were financial incentives for regular cleanup drives or for early reporting of new dengue cases.
The DOH campaigns a “5S” strategy to combat dengue: search and destroy mosquito breeding sites; use self-protection measures; seek early consultation; say yes to fogging where needed; and start and sustain hydration.
According to the DOH, it is anticipating at least eight more local governments across the country—in Calabarzon, Central Luzon, and the National Capital Region—to declare local outbreaks of dengue, following Quezon City, due to the “concerning rise” in the number of dengue cases in these localities.
