Caribbean Mosquito Awareness 2018

Caribbean Mosquito Awareness Week

With the continued presence of mosquito borne diseases such as Dengue and Chikungunya, and the arrival of Zika in the Region, it is a crucial time to bring the Region together to ‘fight the bite’.

At the 17^th Special Session of the CARICOM Heads of Government on public health threats in November 2014, the Heads approved a proposal for the establishment of an annual "Caribbean Mosquito Awareness Week”, to be observed by Member States with support of CARPHA, CARICOM Secretariat in partnership with PAHO.

The annual event is a collaborative initiative between the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The event is designed to strengthen existing initiatives in the Region and mobilise the public and communities to take action and eliminate mosquito breeding sites. The overall theme ‘Small bite, big threat’ and the slogan ‘Fight the bite, destroy mosquito breeding sites’, remains the same.

The objectives of Caribbean Mosquito Awareness Week are:

to promote education, awareness and community participation in vector control;
to promote communication and cooperation;
to maintain vector control activities on the political and community agenda; and
to serve as platform for integrated activities.