Environmental management for vector control
- Slovak term: Slovenský termín
- The planning, organization, carrying out and monitoring of activities for the modification and/or manipulation of environmental factors or their interaction with man with a view to preventing or minimizing vector propagation and reducing man-vector-pathogen contact (WHO 1980).
Explanation
The control of vectors of diseases (insects and other invertebrates that transmit pathogens) is an essential part of the prevention and control of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, schistosomiasis, filariasis, Japanese encephalitis and dengue (WHO 1980).
Example
Two forms of environmental management for vector control are distinguished:
- Environmental modification, a form of environmental management consisting of any physical transformation that is permanent or long-lasting of land, water and vegetation, aimed at preventing, reducing or eliminating the habitats of vectors without causing unduly adverse effects on the quality of the human environment. Examples include drainage, filling and land leveling and ransformation of impoundment margins.
- Environmental manipulation, a form of environmental management consisting of any planned recurrent activity aimed at producing temporary conditions unfavourable to the breeding of vectors in their habitats. Examples include water salinity changes, flushing, regulation of water levels in eservoirs, vegetation removal, shading and exposure to sunlight.
There is an important economic difference between the two types of environmental management, which relates to the fact that modification requires major capital investment in infrastructural engineering works, so that the discount rate plays an important role in determining the economic value of the intervention. Manipulation, on the other hand, being a recurrent activity, benefits from the concept of discounting, because its costs in the future will gradually become cheaper in present-day costs (WHO 1979).
References
- WHO (1979) Expert Committee on Vector Biology and Control, TRS 649
- WHO (1980) Environmental Management for Vector Control. Fourth report of the WHO Expert Committee on Vector Biology and Control. Technical Report Series 649.
