Joint IAEA-FAO-WHO Expert Team to Visit Bangladesh for Long-term Solution to Aedes Mosquito

DHAKA, Aug. 20 (NsNewsWire) — To tackle the diseases caused by Aedes mosquito in Bangladesh, a joint IAEA-FAO-WHO Expert Team will visit Bangladesh from 21 to 23 August 2019. The main objective of the Team will be to assess the feasibility of Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) in controlling Aedes mosquito in Bangladesh. 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 due to an initiative taken by Bangladesh Embassy & Permanent Mission in Vienna, with the support of the Health Services Division, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, and the Ministry of Science & Technology, after the dengue fever outbreak in the country.

The work of the expert team – consisting of Mr. Rafael Argilés Herrero and Mr 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 Mr. 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 are 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,’ says His Excellency M. Abu Zafar, Ambassador & Permanent Representative of Bangladesh in Vienna. Foreign Ministry Press Release