UN joint team to help control Aedes mosquito breeding

A joint expert team of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations will assess the feasibility of Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) in controlling Aedes mosquitoes in Bangladesh.

To tackle the diseases caused by Aedes mosquitoes, the joint IAEA-FAO-WHO expert team will visit Bangladesh from August 21 to 23, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today.

The sterile insect technique is an environmentally-friendly insect pest control method involving the mass-rearing and sterilization, using radiation, of a target pest, followed by the systematic area-wide release of the sterile males by air over defined areas, where they mate with wild females resulting in no offspring and a declining pest population.

IAEA has approved the expert mission following an initiative taken by Bangladesh Embassy and Permanent Mission in Vienna, with the support of the Health Services Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, after the dengue fever outbreak in the country.

The work of the expert team - consisting of Rafael Argiles Herrero and Danilo de Oliveira Carvalho, technical officers of the Insect Pest Control Section at the joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, and Rajpal Yadav, scientist, Vector Ecology and Management, Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, WHO - is expected to help Bangladesh in successfully tackling the diseases caused by the Aedes mosquito population in the country.

"We're trying to avail best possible scientific know-how to tackle the Aedes mosquito. We thank IAEA for prompt response to support Bangladesh in this time of need," said M Abu Zafar, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh in Vienna.