Health department observes World Mosquito Day with intensive vector-control drives across Keralam

The Keralam Health department observed World Mosquito Day on Thursday (August 20, 2026) with a renewed call to launch awareness programmes and intensive control measures to check mosquito population in the State.

It has called upon households, institutions and the community to work together to eliminate mosquito-breeding sources so that the State has a better grip on the vector-borne diseases that affect a significant proportion of the population every year.

Health Minister K. Muraleedharan inaugurated the World Mosquito Day observance on Thursday (August 20, 2026) at Vattiyurkavu, his constituency, which has become one of the major hotspots for mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and chikungunya in the district this season.

Despite extensive surveillance and vector-control machinery, mosquito-borne diseases remain stubbornly entrenched in the State.

Though the State reports several mosquito-borne diseases like malaria, filariasis, West Nile, Japanese encephalitis and chikungunya, the challenge is particularly acute with dengue.

108 species in State

A study published in Nature in August 2025, which conducted extensive entomological surveys in five districts—Wayanad, Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Thiruvananthapuram—had reported that the State was home to 108 species of mosquitoes.

Researchers identified 14 established species which are known disease-vectors, and also found several species of the Aedes albopictus mosquito whose disease-transmission potential remains unknown. In all five districts, Aedes albopictus seemed to be the dominant vector. However, by its sheer number, A. aegypti continues to be the primary dengue vector.

The study reiterated what is already known, that artificial man-made habitats—discarded plastic containers, tyres, flower pots and other waste materials like coconut shells thrown away carelessly—contributed substantially to the number and diversity of mosquitoes.

This underlines how human activity is enhancing environmental factors and climate, which already favours the explosive growth in mosquito population.

The focus of mosquito control continues to be source reduction or elimination of breeding grounds, which should be an intensive activity around individual households, with every urban resident taking up the responsibility of keeping one’s house and surroundings free of breeding opportunities for mosquitoes, health officials said.

Construction sites or blocked drains in a vacant property can all be breeding grounds for Aedes species. Hence the health administration is planning intensive disease surveillance and control measures around known hotspots and migrant labour camps.

Continuous community-level elimination of breeding sites should be sustained through the year as the State has two heavy monsoon seasons as well as intermittent rainfall. Intermittent rainfall followed by warm spells accelerates the mosquito breeding pace, something that Thiruvananthapuram in particular has witnessed this season.

World Mosquito Day is being used as an opportunity by the Health department to take the conversation about dengue to the entire community, so that local bodies, residents’ associations, construction workers, schools and institutions also play a role in keeping the vector indices down.