Bengaluru: Citizen scientist programme launched to intensify dengue awareness

Bengaluru: The Bengaluru Science and Technology Cluster (BeST) and the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM) hosted the ‘I Am OneHealth Festival’ on Friday.

On this occasion, the organisations, in collaboration with Echo Network, launched an exclusive citizen action programme to engage citizen scientists in a mass awareness and action campaign to combat the city’s rising dengue cases.

They launched a WhatsApp number, [phone], which citizens can use to report mosquito breeding spots in the city. Citizens can share pictures of stagnant water and breeding spots along with their locations. This number is linked to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) reporting portal, and the officials concerned will take prompt action.

Through technological, educational, interactive, and collaborative activities, the festival aimed to highlight innovations in Bengaluru and inspire a collective response to public health challenges like dengue, making a lasting impact on disease prevention and control.

The festival included participation from the BBMP, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), ARTPARK, Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (TIGS), Bangalore Sustainability Forum (BSF), ICAR-National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (NIVEDI), Saahas, Molecular Solutions Care Health LLP, Science Gallery Bengaluru, and Echo Network.