Informed Dialogue in Guerrero Households

Brigadistas explaining how to interrupt the Ae. aegypti life cycle to community members during a visit to their household in Costa Grande.

Household dialogues begin with the sharing of data about recent dengue virus infection among children obtained from the saliva samples taken during the baseline survey. Each household receives a written report of its own results. Even when none of the children showed evidence of recent infection, this information makes parents think about the risk of disease faced by their children.

The brigadistas socialise the information about the dengue mosquito household by household, with the aid of photographs, mock-ups, pamphlets and crafts they make themselves. The volunteers put an emphasis on how the mosquito’s life cycle can be broken or avoided. For this dialogue, the brigadista joins the head of the household in inspecting the water containers inside and outside the household. If they find larvae and/or pupae in the containers, they place them in aclear jar and request that they watch them until they turn into mosquitoes, so they may confirm the life cycle and understand that the mosquitoes come from the larvae.

Actions that households can perform include covering and/or washing and scrubbing water containers; monitoring containers to eliminate the early forms of the vector; eliminating discarded receptacles of any kind where water may accumulate; cleaning the house and performing biological controls through the use of larva-eating fish, or even prawns and frogs.