Influence of public hesitancy and receptivity on reactive behaviours towards releases of male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes for dengue control.

Singapore, a highly urbanized Asian tropical country that experiences periodic dengue outbreaks, is piloting field releases of male Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with the aim of suppressing urban populations of the primary dengue vector Aedes aegypti. This study proposes and assesses a model to explain the roles of hesitancy and receptivity towards Project Wolbachia-Singapore in influencing reactive mosquito prevention behaviors (reactive behaviors) towards the release of Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes for residents living in the release sites. Interestingly, both hesitancy and receptivity predicted greater instances of reactive behaviors.

A Household-Based Survey to Understand Factors Influencing Awareness, Attitudes and Knowledge towards Technology.

In 2016, Singapore introduced the release of male mosquitoes to complement vector control efforts and suppress mosquitoes in selected study sites. With ongoing expansion of Project Singapore to cover larger areas, a household-based survey was conducted between July 2019 to February 2020 in two Project study sites using a structured questionnaire, to evaluate current sentiments and assess the need for enhanced public messaging and engagement. The association of factors that influence awareness, attitudes, and knowledge towards the use of technology was analysed using Pearson's Chi-square test and binary logistic regression.

Public sentiments towards the use of Wolbachia-Aedes technology in Singapore.

Background: Wolbachia technology is a novel vector control approach that can reduce mosquito populations and the risk of mosquito-borne diseases, which has recently gained popularity amongst countries. In 2016, Singapore embarked on a multi-phased field study named Project Wolbachia - Singapore, to evaluate the use of Wolbachia technology as an Aedes aegypti mosquito population suppression tool to fight dengue. Due to the novelty of this technology in Singapore, this study aims to understand the public's acceptance and sentiments towards the use of Wolbachia technology.

External quality assessment of dengue and chikungunya diagnostics in the Asia Pacific region, 2015.

Objective: To conduct an external quality assessment (EQA) of dengue and chikungunya diagnostics among national-level public health laboratories in the Asia Pacific region following the first round of EQA for dengue diagnostics in 2013.

Methods: Twenty-four national-level public health laboratories performed routine diagnostic assays on a proficiency testing panel consisting of two modules. Module A contained serum samples spiked with cultured dengue virus (DENV) or chikungunya virus (CHIKV) for the detection of nucleic acid and DENV non-structural protein 1 (NS1) antigen.