Educational actions as a strategy for Entomologic Vigilance in the Arquipelago region, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Abstract

In 2001 the state of Rio Grande do Sul had 66 cities with the presence of the dengue vector, Aedes aegypti, and in April 2001 the first exemplar of the mosquito was found in Porto Alegre. Traditionally the vector combat was based on the vertical eradication plans, and the community participation was not considered a fundamental strategy for dengue vigilance. However, the importance of popular participation on dengue control became evident. Although educative campaigns only focused in informing the population are a good source of knowledge, it is well-known that they are not able to stimulate changes in people behavior. Thus, this study proposes an evaluation of educational actions in Arquipelago Delta do Jacuí, Porto Alegre area, where the dengue vector expansion and proliferation are favorable. The results show that population knowledge and attitudes about breeding sites were satisfactory, and a positive relation between an educative approach and the decreasing number of breeding sites was found, but they also reveal the population difficulties in understanding the actual importance of dengue disease.