Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Dengue Prevention by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment

Written Reply by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, to Parliamentary Question on Dengue Prevention

Ms Yeo Wan Ling: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment whether the Ministry has measured the effectiveness of (i) the National Dengue Prevention Campaign and (ii) the frequency of enforcement agent checks in HDB corridors, drains and other common estate areas for mosquito breeding.

Answer:

1 The National Environment Agency (NEA) adopts a holistic dengue control strategy to keep dengue incidence low, by keeping mosquito population low and breaking the disease transmission chain. This includes outreach and engagement, as well as regular inspections of various premises for mosquito breeding sites.

2 The National Dengue Prevention Campaign is NEA’s key outreach and engagement programme on dengue. The annual programme rallies the community to stop dengue transmission, to prevent a surge in dengue cases ahead of the traditional dengue peak period, typically from June to October. NEA carries out post-campaign surveys to measure the effectiveness of the campaign and gather insights on the public’s perception of dengue prevention. The survey results generally show that the campaign has been effective in raising awareness on dengue prevention. NEA uses the survey findings and insights to sharpen and improve future campaigns.

3 NEA utilizes daily dengue case data and mosquito population data collected from gravitraps fortnightly, to identify high risk areas. This allows NEA to prioritise mosquito breeding inspections and ensure effective deployment of limited manpower resources. As such, high risk areas, which may include Housing and Development Board (HDB) estates, would be inspected more frequently. In 2021, NEA conducted about 631,000 inspections for mosquito breeding islandwide, including residential units, construction sites, common areas within the HDB estates, and public areas in landed estates, using this targeted inspection regime. This uncovered about 18,500 mosquito breeding habitats.