Mass communication of dengue surveillance data: effect of an intervention in Guadalajara de Buga, Colombia

Abstract

Introduction: Maintaining communities abreast of their local dengue situation could help to keep them motivated to participate in dengue control and to decrease Aedes entomological indexes.

Objectives: To evaluate the coverage and reach of an intervention based on mass-media communication of dengue surveillance reports and its effect on the presence of intra-domiciliary breeding sites for Aedes in Guadalajara de Buga, Colombia.

Materials and methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted in 1,426 households to identify the intra-domiciliary breeding sites and to characterize the intervention exposure. To evaluate the effect of the intervention, a case-control study was performed. All households with positive breedingsites were considered as cases. Four controls per case were randomly selected among the non-positive breeding site households located on the same block of the case.

Results: The positive house index was 2.5%; coverage was 59.4% and reach was 22.3%. Therewas no association between the intervention and the presence of intra-domiciliary breeding sites. The presence of water plants and flower pots were associated to positive breeding sites (p=0.01) and the use of screens was associated to the absence of breeding sites (p=0.02).

Conclusions: Although intervention coverage was adequate, the lack of association between the intervention and the absence of positive breeding sites requires assessing its fidelity, factors related to the design, and the implementation process.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.v33i0.724