Mysore/Mysuru: In a bid to create awareness about controlling diseases such as malaria, dengue, filarial, brain fever etc., the Office of the District Vector-Borne Diseases Control Officer of the Health and Family Welfare Department will be celebrating World Mosquito Day tomorrow (Aug. 20) in city.

An event in this regard will be inaugurated by District Health Officer (DHO) Dr. K.H. Prasad in front of the Office of the District Vector-Borne Diseases Control Officer, Nazarbad, at 1 pm. This year, the theme will be ‘Harness innovation to reduce the global malaria disease burden and save lives’ and ‘Dengue is preventable: Let’s join hands.’

While zero cases of malaria was reported in the district from 2016 till date, 582 cases of dengue and 158 cases of chikungunya were reported in 2016. In 2017, 843 dengue and 78 chikungunya cases; 2018 –  49 dengue and 41 chikungunya; 2019 – 122 dengue and 81 chikungunya; 2020 – 32 dengue and 13 chikungunya; 2021 – 182 dengue and 37 chikungunya and from January 2022 till Aug. 17, 2022 – 474 cases of dengue and 36 cases of chikungunya were detected.

Following steps are taken by Health and Family Welfare Department to control the spread of vector-borne diseases:

Identification of mosquito breeding places and destroying such breeding places with the help of public; Taking steps to prevent stagnation of water; Leaving mosquito larva eating fish such as guppy in wells, kalyanis, ponds and other water bodies and Messages on controlling vector-borne diseases being aired and telecast on radio, Doordarshan and cable TV channels etc.