Wolbachia to swarm Fiji’s Western Division

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The Wolbachia program will be expanded to the Western Division. Picture: FT FILE

NADI and Lautoka have been chosen as the next two places that will see the World Mosquito Program (WMP) launch its Wolbachia program.

This was confirmed to this newspaper by the WMP Fiji project co-ordinator, Aminiasi Tavui yesterday.

Mr Tavui said the WMP was excited to expand into the Western Division, after the positive progress they were seeing in Lami, Suva and Nakasi.

“It demonstrates the confidence that we and our partners have in the Wolbachia method as an additional tool to reduce outbreaks of dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses in Fiji,” Mr Tavui said.

He said Nadi and Lautoka were known hotspots for dengue outbreaks because of the significant number of Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes in the area.

“At the moment, we are focused on speaking with community members about the work we want to do. Community support is extremely important to us and we want the public to be comfortable with our approach.

“We are planning a Wolbachia celebration in March, which will give communities an opportunity to ask us questions. People can also find us on facebook or give us a call anytime,” he said.

“Our team is busy meeting with lots of local organisations at the moment to share information about Wolbachia and how it can make our communities healthier places to live.

“We also have independent community reference groups for Nadi and Lautoka, which represent the communities’ interests and provides us with advice and feedback.”

He added they were delighted to see positive progress for the Central Division project.

“We are on track to establish Wolbachia in local mosquito populations in Lami, Suva and Nakasi, which we expect will help reduce outbreaks of dengue, chikungunya and Zika,” he said.

“Releases of Wolbachia carrying mosquitoes have been completed in Lami, Tamavua, Wailoku, Cunningham, Tacirua, Kalabu, Naveikawau and Kinoya.

“We believe Wolbachia levels are high enough in these sites to sustain itself and continue to increase naturally. Releases will continue across the rest of our project site over the coming weeks and we will keep monitoring progress, however, overall, we are feeling extremely positive.”

The project in the Western Division is supported by the New Zealand Aid Program worth $NZ2.7 million ($F3.9m).

The program is expected to be launched in March.

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