Te Marae Ora (TMO) Ministry of Health’s Tutaka campaign has made significant progress in reducing the mosquito and pest breeding sites with the coordinator reporting that the nation remains safe from mosquito and pest-related diseases.

The campaign which ran from July 22 to August 2, 2024, in Rarotonga, was initiated to encourage the public to keep their environment clean and prevent any outbreak of dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and other environment diseases.

It aimed to keep homes free of mosquitoes, vermin and breeding grounds for other pests.

Tutaka campaign coordinator Charlie Ave, who is also Te Marae Ora’s senior health protection officer, confirmed that over 3500 properties were inspected. These included dwelling houses, motels, hotels, villas, apartments, retail and wholesale shops, factories, government offices and buildings.

Over 100 issues were discovered, representing a 50 per cent decline compared to previous years.

Of the 117 problems identified, most of them were motor vehicle wrecks that have been lying around people’s properties, followed by over 50 discarded tires.

Over 70 motor vehicle wrecks were discovered around people’s properties. Additionally, three to four overflowing septic tanks and a mosquito breeding ground, such as an abandoned swimming pool, were found.

Some of these issues were followed up by public health officials, and many property owners have cleaned up their properties, especially overgrown vacant sections.

Ave said: “The Health Protection Unit has been leading the campaign, and when we went around again last week and this week, we found out that four of these properties have been cleaned.”

“And also, our advice for those people with the wrecks is to maintain those areas around the wrecked vehicles cleaned at all times otherwise all kinds of pests will breed around that area.

“So please keep those areas clean. We know the wrecks are costly like transporting or removing a car which costs over $300 that’s why we’re embarking on the subsidy project by the government so people will pay less.”

The Tutaka campaign for the Pa Enua has already started. The campaign is conducted three times a year in the Pa Enua and twice a year in Rarotonga.

In the event of a mosquito-borne disease outbreak, Ave stressed that the Ministry of Health would increase the number of Tutaka campaigns in Rarotonga to three or four.

The Ministry would also activate Operation Namu, an initiative which aimed at implementing environmental measures to destroy mosquito breeding sites.

Operation Namu was one of the programmes launched by the Ministry of Health to address dengue outbreak. It is an environmental health programme that mobilises government agency representatives, community members and the Puna to clean up and get rid of mosquito breeding and resting sites in the communities.

It involves picking up rubbish, trimming overgrown hedges, slashing overgrown sections, removing containers that hold water, and drilling holes or covering with tarpaulin any discarded tyres that hold water.

The country’s first dengue case was in 2007 and there have been multiple outbreaks since.

It was earlier reported that in 2009 over 1000 people caught the virus.

The outbreak in the first half of 2021 recorded 200 cases. The Ministry had earlier confirmed that no suspected, probable or confirmed dengue cases had been reported to Public Health since October 2022.