Vic Falls starts mosquito eradication

VICTORIA Falls Municipality has started indoor and outdoor mosquito spraying to control malaria in the resort town.

Hotel operators last year complained that mosquitoes were causing havoc and scaring away tourists from the country’s prime destination prompting the local authority to intensify control of the insects.

Some residents however last year blocked council teams from spraying their houses claiming that the chemical - Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) - that the municipality was using was not effective as mosquitoes wreaked havoc soon after spraying. Council then switched to organophosphate.

The Chronicle news crew noticed council workers busy around residential areas carrying out the fogging, a process that involves shooting a cloud of chemical into the air to apply an insecticide in an area to reduce the proliferation of adult mosquitoes.

Responding to emailed questions, Victoria Falls public relations and economic development officer Mr Ngqabutho Moyo appealed to residents to cooperate as the council targets to cover 90 percent of households compared to 78 percent sprayed last year.

“We started fogging on the 2nd September 2017 and indoor residual spraying on Monday. Outdoor spraying is expected to end in the month of February 2018. We are targeting all built up areas including possible breeding sites such as sewer ponds and stagnant water bodies,” he said.

“We would like to encourage residents to embrace this exercise which is expected to cover the entire community of Victoria Falls to ensure that it is highly successful.”

Mr Moyo said they are using the Integrated Vector Management (IVM) approach which includes fogging, larviciding, indoor residual spraying (IRS) and through grass cutting.

Larviciding is action used to destroy mosquito larva in stagnant water before the larva develops into mosquitoes.

“In 2016, a 78 percent household indoor spraying was achieved against a national target of 95 percent and a World Health Organisation target of 95 percent. This year we want to increase the coverage to 90 percent,” said Mr Moyo.

He said so far this year council had not encountered resistance from residents.

Mr Moyo appealed to residents to make sure their houses are accessible to those carrying out the exercise.

He said people can also play a part by clearing drainages, litter and water sources to destroy breeding places for mosquitoes.— @ncubeleon