Mosquito Squads” Launched in Schools

Collective Prevention Services (CPS) launchs today their ‘Mosquito Squad Pilot Project’ at Sister Marie Laurence School in Middle Region, however all schools are scheduled to participate. The project aims to educate the youth on how to eliminate mosquito breeding sites through an interactive approach. Each school will form their own squad team consisting of children in the fourth grade supervised by a teacher. 

This mosquito control program utilizes school inspections as a tool to help protect the health of students and teachers at the school. Students taking part in their school’s Mosquito Squad will be tasked with making routine inspections every Monday, ten (10) minutes before recess is over to identify breeding sites. Students will be allowed to take pictures of their inspection and these pictures will be posted on CPS’s Facebook page. To carry out their task presentations and interactive sessions will be conducted on mosquito biology, transmission of viruses such as Zika, Chikungunya, Dengue, and eliminating breeding sites. After each inspection, the school janitor will walk around to ensure that all breeding sites are cleared. The students that are part of the squad will be changed every two weeks. 

In addition, the schools will be provided with information that is formatted in a creative manner through games and puzzles. The American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine has also provided the “Z-PACK” activity and coloring book which was developed by medical students. 

At the end of the year, each schools will be honored with a plaque for their effort based on the established methodology.  Minister Lee thanked the Department of CPS and all involved for their hard work in making this project a reality. “The idea is that these students will take what they have learned and impart that knowledge at home. This is a step in the ministry’s ongoing efforts to reduce the amount of mosquito breeding sites on St. Maarten”, said Minister Lee.