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Free pesticide to fight dengue
The Denpasar administration has been distributing up to four tons of free larvicide each year to help prevent the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes, the primary known vector of the deadly dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fevers, a municipal official says
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The Denpasar administration has been distributing up to four tons of free larvicide each year to help prevent the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes, the primary known vector of the deadly dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fevers, a municipal official says.
The larvicide Abate is a potent micro-granule insecticide that can effectively kill mosquito larvae. The insecticide is added to water containers and stagnant water. It can last up to three months.
It is very cost effective way of controlling mosquito larvae, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has proved that it is safe to use in drinking water.
"The fund allocated toward procuring Abate is quite huge, around Rp 1 billion," said AA Bambang, the head of the Denpasar Health Agency's unit for the eradication of animal-borne disease, said Tuesday.
The municipality, Bambang said, began distributing free Abate to its residents in 2004, following a dengue fever outbreak that claimed several fatalities.
"We distribute packages of Abate 1G, with each containing ten grams of Abate," he said.
Two grams of Abate are enough to treat up to 18 liters of water.
Initially, the distribution was carried out by officials from the health agency, but the scheme was deemed ineffective.
Last year the municipality recruited 215 larvae monitoring officers, locally known as Jumantik, who were also tasked with distributing the Abate. Another 215 Jumantik were recruited this year.
"Now we have a total of 430 Jumantik working at every banjar (traditional neighborhood association) in Denpasar," he said.
A large number of the Jumantik were recruited from banjar members.
"The policy provides us with Jumantik who are familiar with the local territory and have good relationship with the other members of the banjar, thus enabling them to gauge the actual health status of the respective banjar and its needs," he added.
The Jumantik receive a monthly allowance and a special uniform from the municipality. They are not allowed to charge the residents for the services they extend, including that for distributing the Abate, Bambang said.
Unfortunately, the current wet season, known as the traditional period of dengue fever outbreak, has been exploited by several individuals bent on making profit from the residents' anxiety toward the disease.
"We have received reports that several people have sold Abate packages to residents," he said.
Unlike the government-distributed Abate, which has aluminum packaging, the commercial ones have paper packaging instead. American Cyanamid Company-USA was written on the package of the commercial Abate.
"We took several samples of them to the state laboratory and the results confirmed they contained nothing but sand," he said.
Adrian Suwanto was one of the victims of the allegedly fake Abate.
"The person who sold it to me initially said it was Rp 10,000 per package. After a negotiation, he agreed to sell it for Rp 4,000. I bought several packages," he said.
Over the past few days, Bambang said, several Jumantik had reported the presence of individuals impersonating Jumantik and selling allegedly fake Abate to residents.
"They wear Jumantik or civil servant uniforms and sell Abate at varying prices," he said.
Bambang said the municipal administration would soon issue a special ID card to official Jumantik.
He also urged the public to immediately notify the municipality office (0361-223333) once they encountered a suspicious Jumantik or an individual trying to sell Abate.
