Control of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever through Community Networking and Abstaining from the Use of Mosquito Larvicide, Linfa Sub-district, Yangchumnoi District, Sisaket Province - การดำเนินงานภาคีเครือข่ายเข็มแข็ง งดใช้ทรายกำจัดลูกน้ำ ลดอัตราการเกิดไข้เลือดออก ตำบลลิ้นฟ้า อำเภอยางชุมน้อย จังหวัดศรีสะเกษ

Abstract

Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is a health problem in Si Sa Ket Province. Prevention efforts
have been put in plane in all communities. However, with the use of massive chemical agents to control
mosquito breeding sites, community participation has been limited. Health officials were unable to get
access to all areas to implement prevention and control strategies. Therefore, Linfa Sub-district has
modifies the control strategy by the use of multi-sectoral networking to handle to problem. The objective
of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an approach to promote involvement of various
sectors to counter the epidemic without using chemicals. This action research covered all 14 villages of
the sub-district with the involvement of 389 community leaders during the period from October 2012
to June 2013. The study tools included surveillance data in the sub-district, village health volunteers’
personal records, and records for household survey for mosquito larva indexes. The study was conducted
in 2 phases beginning with the preparation phase in which a mapping was made, and stakeholder
meeting was organized with the participation of the president and the members of sub-district administration
organizations, village heads and assistants, family leaders from every household, and school
representatives altogether 389 people with the aim to make them aware of the DHF problem and make
an agreement for community participation in the control. The second phase was the operation period in
which implementation strategies were conducted including public relation to motivate villagers to take
care of their house, elimination of mosquito larva, carrying out random larva survey by village health
volunteers from other villages, sharing survey data and improving the work. As a result, household larva
indexes decreased and there was no case of DHF in the sub-district. There was no purchase of chemicals
in the campaign. This approach should be promoted for the strengthening of DHF prevention on a
routine basis regardless of the presence of the epidemic.
Key words: dengue hemorrhagic fever, mosquito control, community participation