Brief Explanation

As per the latest survey, over 50,000 Indians die of mosquito-borne diseases every year. Malaria and Dengue being the most fatal. And the only way to stay protected, avoid being bitten. For many years, the Insecticide Department for Public Health of Mumbai has been trying various measures to prevent the spread of Malaria and Dengue. But to no avail.

Results and Effectiveness

We received over a 1000 calls within the first week of its launch. The slum dwellers across the city shared positive feed-backs, post the visit in their vicinity. The activity even worked as an awareness drive with the slum dwellers considering primary precautionary measures to combat the spread of Malaria and Dengue. Taking the operation ahead, we've planned to install permanent such billboards in the affected areas.

Creative Execution

We turned a billboard into a giant mosquito zapper. The billboard was installed on a truck, making it a mobile billboard. A helpline number was promoted through various mediums. One can call on this number and invite the mosquito zapper billboard to make their vicinity mosquito - free. The mobile billboard visited various affected areas and slums across Mumbai, including Dharavi. It's been more than a week now and the operation is still going on. - The campaign panned out exactly as we planned it.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

In Dharavi (Mumbai), Asia's largest slum, the open drains act as the breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The slum dwellers live with the life threatening mosquito-borne diseases every day. As there is no specific medical treatment or approved vaccine for these mosquito-borne diseases, the only way to stay protected is to avoid being bitten. And the mosquito repellents available in the market too proves ineffective, as they are not quite capable of killing mosquitoes. An operation was initiated against the killer mosquitoes by turning a billboard into a giant mosquito zapper.