Preface

This manual grew out of the events which occurred in the Great Lakes region of East Africa (Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda and Upper-Zaire). It reflects the vector-control problems encountered in the refugee camps of the region and proposes a systematic approach to resolving them in the short term through chemical means and, over the long term, through environmental sanitation combined with health education for the communities concerned.

Pest and vector control is a subject to which numerous guides, manuals and other publications have been and will continue to be devoted. Such an abundance of literature reflects the number and importance of the diseases transmitted by vectors and the constant progress being made in the technologies for controlling them, particularly in pesticide technology. However, the fact that pesticides play an important role in vector control should not cause us to lose sight of the potential danger they represent for human health and the environment.

Although every refugee situation is unique in the way it develops and in the type of population concerned, there are, nevertheless, certain common aspects relating to health, hygiene and the environment. The same health problems, along with the same types of vectors and pests, are often present in the early days of refugee movements into high-density sites. This, in principle, favours the use of the same vector control strategies with adaptation, as required, to specific environmental conditions as well as to human, material and financial resources.

It is planned that this manual will be adapted to other situations in other regions (in Africa or elsewhere) where health is at risk owing to the insufficient or inadequate control of vectors and other pests.

Giancarlo Majori		Nicholas Morris
Director		Director
Department of Parasitology		Division of Operational Support
Istituto Superiore di Sanit/TD>		United Nations High
		Commissioner for Refugees