Controlling Biting Insect Populations

Economic and Social CouncilWorld Health Organization

TopicControlling Biting Insect Populations

Around the globe, vector-borne diseases account for more than 700,000 deaths annually according to United Nations (UN) World Health Organization (WHO) data. Even when these diseases are not fatal, health complications of fever, birth defects, chronic suffering, disability, and more plague victims and create great barriers to health and global development. Vector-borne diseases, like malaria, yellow fever, Zika virus, and dengue spread through live carriers: biting insects. Ultimately, the primary and most effective prevention of these diseases rests in the control of biting insect populations.

Biting insect populations rise and fall in the context of many factors including climate change, deforestation, population movement, and more. Importantly, these disease-carrying insects are not bound to national borders and the risk of disease spread and the control of these populations is a task that must be tackled both at a local and international level. Thankfully, there are many ways to combat infectious vector populations.

Efforts such as the WHO’s 2017 Global Vector Control Response guide have attempted to offer strategic support for nations and the private sector to collaborate and streamline efforts to combat biting insect population spread. It is also critical to look at relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the context of this topic. SDGs 6, 9, 11,13, and 17 all are vital to successful strategies surrounding controlling these insect populations.

While the treatment and awareness of vector-borne diseases are important to the larger conversation surrounding biting insect populations, in our committee we will be focusing on the root of these diseases, the insects themselves.

Focus Questions:

1. Think about what your country has done to reduce or control biting insect populations on a local or national level; has it been effective?
2. How can data collection and information sharing affect the effort to combat biting insect propagation?
3. Should efforts toward insect population control be focused on local, regional, or global scales?
4. How can our committee ensure that solutions to insect population control are accessible?

In the words of former WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, “No one in the 21st century should die from the bite of a mosquito, a sandfly, a blackfly or a tick.”

Useful Links:

WHO Fact Sheet – Vector Borne Diseases
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/vector-borne-diseases

WHO Global Vector Control Response Plan
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241512978

WHO Fact Sheet – Dengue Fever
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dengue-and-severe-dengue

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:
https://sdgs.un.org/goals

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