New App Reports Dengue Breeding Water Sites
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Technology
Costa Rican Company GeoTecnologías Has Developed a Dengue Breeding Site Report Application
A free app that allows the public to report pools and other areas of water where dengue-carrying mosquitoes have laid their eggs could help control outbreaks of thediseasein Costa Rica and beyond, say its developers andhealthofficials.
Costa Rican company GeoTecnologías joined forces with the country's Ministry of Health to develop the Dengue Breeding Reportapplication. The app allows the public to report mosquito ‘hatcheries' to the ministry and will allow the ministry to map this data.
The ministry regularly sends workers to find and spray pesticides on hatcheries. But it currently lacks a sophisticated system for recording these visits.
In the last year alone, Costa Rica has had the highest number of dengue cases in its history — almost 50,000 — according to the ministry. As a result, GeoTecnologías says it decided to apply its expertise to fight the disease.
"People are often concerned to see that, in a local park or in a neighbour's yard, a possible outbreak is brooding that could affect the health of theirchildrenand neighbours," says Luis Araya, commercial manager at GeoTecnologías. But with this app, he says, these worries "may be prevented by reporting it to the ministry".
He says the app has four sections. The main one enables users to store the precise location — or georeference — of a dengue breeding site, along with details such as photographs, the type of hatchery, their name and contact details and when thedatawere collected.
The other sections provide information about dengue prevention, and the respective contact details for the Ministry of Health and GeoTecnologías.
He adds that data collected by the app should enable the Ministry of Health to make smarter decisions about deploying resources. For example, the app's tools include ‘heat maps' of the places with the greatest number of reported sites.
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