The project was to monitor the density of outdoor dengue vector mosquitoes (occurrences of indigenous dengue fever cases) in Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and other areas due to the requirement made by the competent authority.The monitoring plan of 19 weeks duration in Qionglin Village and 4 weeks duration in Xinghan Village, Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City were completed; the monitoring plan of 13 weeks duration in the Happy Farm, Dongsheng Village, Dali District, Taichung City was completed, besides, advice on eliminating dengue fever mosquito breeding sources was provided. In Xinzhuang District, the results of the Ovitrap surveys of dengue vector mosquitoes showed that the overall positive rate of the 19-week monitoring was 10.00% - 82.35% in Qionglin Village; the positive rate of the 4-week monitoring was 6.25%-63.16% in Xinghan Village. In Dali District, Taichung, the results of the Ovitrap surveys of dengue vector mosquitoes showed that the positive rate of the 13-week monitoring was 0%-50% in the Happy Farm, Dongsheng Village. The local governments, including Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung, were designated to conduct elimination of outdoor dengue vector breeding sources with environmental education and inspections. 3 times of inspections in Kaohsiung and 1 time of inspection in Pingtung were conducted respectively; 1 time of inspection in Taipei City and 5 times of inspections in Taichung, which were not included in the contract at the beginning, were performed due to the continuous increase of indigenous dengue fever cases in Taichung and north area of Taiwan. In sum, 10 times of the elimination of outdoor dengue vector breeding sources with environmental education and inspections were conducted. As a result of the overall inspections, a total of 973 potential mosquito breeding source containers were found outdoors; 65 mosquito larva cases were found outdoors; 266 dirty areas were reported on the website, lastly, 200 participants were involved in all prevention advocacy. On May 17, we cooperated with the Environmental Protection Bureau Kaohsiung City Government to hold one explanatory meeting of elimination of outdoor dengue fever mosquito breeding sources which was held in the grand auditorium of the Kaohsiung Environmental Protection Bureau. 201 participants were involved in the meeting. Participated agencies included Central Ministries, counties and cities environmental protection bureaus, village chiefs/officers, cleaning units, township and city offices, community development associations, environmental volunteers…etc. Among the participants, the workers of cleaning units participated actively. The proportions of the understanding of dengue vector mosquitoes control course, the EcoLife teaching course and the mosquito larval observation were 96.8%, 94.2 and 94.9% respectively, and the overall satisfaction rate of the meeting was 95.5%. Environmental education activities, such as practical works, related to vector mosquitoes were held and scholars and experts were invited to guide on site. Activities were mainly about the elimination of dengue vector mosquitoes breeding sources and environmental sanitation education. 15 sessions were held separately, including 2 sessions in Chiayi, 1 session in Tainan, 5 sessions in Kaohsiung, 1 session in Pingtung, 2 sessions in New Taipei City and 4 sessions in Taichung. 613 participants were involved in the 15 sessions of prevention advocacy environmental education, besides, 204 pretest and 118 posttest questionnaires were collected respectively. After the environmental education activities, the proportion of vigilance, knowledge, behavior, and skills of dengue fever prevention increased. The environmental education effectiveness of the above four parts reached significant differences in statistics. We held two expert consultation meetings in Miaoli on September 12th and Taipei City on November 26th, respectively. As for this project, experts and scholars not only provided valuable and practical experience and suggestions for cooperation between agencies but also proposed a number of specific revisions for dengue fever related standard operating procedures and multi-tier mobilization plans.

Dengue vectors, breeding sources, environmental education