Reducing Aedes albopictus breeding sites through education: a study in urban area

Abstract

Aedes albopictus tends to proliferate in small, often man-made bodies of water, largely present in urban private areas. For this reason, education and community participation are considered crucial for source reduction and mosquito control. In the current study, we tried to relate for the first time in Greece, the effectiveness of resident education in an urban area with the number of breeding sites based on previous KAP (knowledge, attitudes and practices) studies. Our study examines the relationship between mosquito breeding sources and socioeconomic or demographic characteristics of different households in a Greek municipality and evaluates efficacy of resident education. The results revealed that only a minority of residents knew where mosquitoes breed (18.6%) and only 46% felt that residents had any responsibility for managing breeding habitat. Our findings strongly suggest that only the presence of scientific staff inspecting possible habitats in their properties, could be enough to stimulate practices towards source reduction. However, educational interventions alone with printed education material cannot enhance significant community participation and source reduction.