Prevention and control of mosquito-borne arboviral diseases: lessons learned from a school-based intervention in Brazil (Zikamob)

Silvana Santos,Izabelly Dutra Fernandes,Victor Alves Albino,Matt Smith,Ricardo Olinda,Roberta Smania-Marques,Francisco Fernandes Abel Mangueira,John Traxler,Ruy Alberto Pisani Altafim

doi:10.1186/s12889-022-12554-w

Abstract

BackgroundSince the 1980s, when dengue was reintroduced in Brazil, outbreaks and epidemics caused by different arbovirus strains transmitted by vector mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti have been an annual occurrence. The aim of this study was to evaluate the behavioural change of high school students and teachers who participated in an educational intervention for the prevention and vector control of arboviral diseases.MethodsIn this school-based intervention, a self-reported questionnaire was used in a pre-post intervention methodology to assess environmental risk factors, sociodemographic variables and to measure attitudes and behaviours. In all, 883 high school students and teachers from the city of Campina Grande, in the state of Paraíba, northeastern Brazil, participated. The e-health intervention consisted of a competition between schools to comply with preventive actions via content production for social networks, and the monitoring was performed over a period of three months through the ZikaMob software developed by the researchers.ResultsOut of the 883 survey participants, 690 were students ranging in age from 14 to 41 years, with an average of 17 ± 2 years; and 193 were teachers from 22 to 64 years old, averaging 38 ± 9 years. The analysis of the data shows that significant differences in most of the target behaviours were apparent after the intervention, with an increase of about 10% in the performance of inspection actions; a 7% greater separation of recyclables and a 40% increase in the screening of windows among students. Students showed lower fear of, and a lower self-perception of the risk of, acquiring arboviruses than teachers on average.ConclusionsZikaMob is an innovative strategy with the potential to be replicated in any location that has an internet network and can involve an unlimited number of participants.

Highlights

Since the 1980s, when dengue was reintroduced in Brazil, outbreaks and epidemics caused by different arbovirus strains transmitted by vector mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti (A.e) have been an annual occurrence [1]
Even small changes in human behaviours can have substantial effects on population health outcomes [13]. Building on these behaviour change theories, the aim of this study was to evaluate the behavioural change of high school students and teachers who participated in a virtual educational intervention
This study showed that educational interventions using a virtual platform can promote behavioural change regarding arbovirus prevention, corroborating the findings of preliminary studies conducted with smaller samples [18, 19]

Summary

Introduction

Since the 1980s, when dengue was reintroduced in Brazil, outbreaks and epidemics caused by differ‐ ent arbovirus strains transmitted by vector mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti have been an annual occurrence. Since the 1980s, when dengue was reintroduced in Brazil, outbreaks and epidemics caused by different arbovirus strains transmitted by vector mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti (A.e) have been an annual occurrence [1]. The similarity of symptoms, crossreactivity, co-circulation and overlap of infections by different arbovirus species and strains make the differential diagnosis of these diseases difficult [1]. The development of vaccines and alternative control methods using transgenic bacteria and mosquitoes has been reported in the literature [5, 6]

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