Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), for the first time in its history, has commenced training of its IEC (Information, Education and Communication) workers who visit door-to-door creating awareness regarding vector control.
“The IEC workers play a lead role in creating awareness about vector-borne diseases like dengue going door-to-door. In each of the 144 wards of the KMC, we have at least 10 such IEC workers. We felt these workers too need training on how they should execute their work in vector control which would help them discharge their duties in the best possible manner,” Debashis Biswas, OSD & Ex-Officio chief vector control officer at KMC said.
During the training, the IEC workers are being informed of the specific places in a household/ market / factory etc. which needs mandatory check during field inspection for detecting mosquito larvae. They are also being taught what exactly they should tell the common people for creating awareness among them to curb the spread of vector borne diseases.
The training that started from March 18 and will continue till April 24 is being held at KMC’s mosquito research laboratory at Moulali where the workers are also learning the identification of mosquito larvae.IEC workers under the WBUES (West Bengal Urban Employment Scheme) from all the wards under a single borough are being trained on a single day in two batches. KMC has 16 boroughs in total. About 1900 IEC workers and 85 others associated with vector management will undergo this training session.