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Sherine Huntley Jones, Medical Entomologist and National Programme Manager for Vector Control in the Ministry of Health
By Nakinskie Robinson
The Ministry of Health & Wellness says it must eventually scale down fogging activities to maintain the effectiveness of the vector control measure against the mosquito population.
Medical Entomologist and National Programme Manager for Vector Control in the Ministry, Sherine Huntley Jones, argues that extensive fogging increases the resistance of mosquitoes against the chemicals being used to eradicate them.
She says while the public has called for increased fogging, the exercise must be strategically conducted since there is no significant outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases on the island at this time.
"Our numbers have come down significantly, and so we're almost back to normal levels. We are fogging nuisance mosquitoes. As a Ministry of Health, we have to be mindful to safeguard the efficacy of the chemicals that we use. So while we would have enhanced our fogging significantly, there's going to be a time that I'm going to have to pull it back. Because the truth is, I am not in a disease outbreak situation, and I have to safeguard the efficacy of the chemicals for such a situation. So we have to emphasise the importance of our population taking on this personal responsibility in protecting themselves," Mrs. Huntely Jones noted.
The Ministry also sought to clarify that fogging is the least effective of the vector control measures used.
Mrs. Huntley Jones said the Health Ministry has been using other vector control measures, such as top water minnow or mosquito fish, as a biological control agent against mosquito larvae.
But she said the team has encountered challenges deploying the fish in some of the most active mosquito breeding areas.
"There are communities in the past that we have sought to introduce the fish, especially those in the south. The residents there would say to us, 'No we don't want no fish inna wi water; it aguh mek wi water smell raw' and so forth. So it is something that we have explored, trying to mitigate against some of those factors that prevented us going further with it," she acknowledged.
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