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High Technique Mosquito Control System
Guro Public Health Center

The Problem

The operation of preexisting mosquito control service had been carried out repeatedly in the entire region by periods as mosquitoes appeared by natural consequences. It was executed optionally only for the area where the civil complaints about mosquito were raised. By the way, a civil petition about mosquitoes means that mosquitoes already propagated. In another words, it was late to take an action for control, so the mosquito control service was operated in inefficient way and it cost high expense compared to the result.
Health of inhabitants was threatened since the areas Malaria carrying mosquitoes appear are expanding in Korea. Mosquito control service crews installed the conventional-type collecting equipment and conducted operations after collecting, measuring, analyzing with the unaided eyes. However, it was unable to cope with rapidity of ontogeny of mosquitoes instantly because of climate change. The service was not operated in scientific and organized way; the information about vulnerable area against mosquitoes was not shared; only the mosquito control service crew on the spot was aware of the information, so a new staff had difficulties in accessing the data of mosquito appearance area in case that staffs had been changed.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Civil complaints were treated immediately due to HTMC(High-Tech Mosquito Control) System applied with GIS.
It is able for Public Health Center to grasp the location and route of operation in real time through GPS of mosquito control service vehicle and PDA of service crew. Public Health Center checks the location of crews through the computer and then conducts an operation promptly to a crew nearby from where a habitant complains about mosquitoes. With this process, satisfaction of inhabitants has increased.
Mosquito control service has been operated efficiently with real-time capturing of work route, while the preexisting system caused environmental pollution and blind spot as the pest control service was operated repeatedly only in specified areas as a crew's convenience.
Moreover, the brand-new system brought reduction of expenses on insecticide, chemical and labor force, and decrease of civil petition. With previous system, the damages from mosquito were reported after habitants informed administrative organizations of it. However, it is possible to catch the change of mosquito appearance through the digital mosquito measuring equipment in every area. Thus mosquito control operation can be carried out optionally only in the area where the population of mosquito is dense(or increased suddenly). Performance measurements both quantitatively and qualitatively prove the successful result, i.e. less cases of civil complaints at Seoul Dasan Call Center (*information call center for civil petition of city of Seoul), compared to the number of complaints in other districts, the reduction of civil complaints in Guro (comparison with the past prior to HTMC system), the output data of digital mosquito measuring equipment.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The officials in charge of pest control developed HTMC system applied with GIS and they had a contract with a small-medium enterprise, 'Geo2 Information Technology' for concrete solution(program).
Guro tried to analyze the information(once every two weeks) from the mosquito collecting equipment that had been using only for collect of mosquito before. Those efforts enabled the development of digital mosquito measuring equipment. It is the officials and crews who created this machine. Before, they withdrew the luring-lights(conventional-type collecting machine), sorted out the mosquitoes with unaided eyes, and counted the number of the insects. They had difficulties in grouping harmful insects and measuring the number of captured mosquitoes, so they would liked to invent design a machine that can measure automatically and in real-time. With the concept of Mahnboki - a machine that shows one's walking distance with numerical value through a sensor of its movement(vibrations), they developed a digital mosquito measuring equipment using infrared ray sensor. The idea originated with Guro and a small-medium enterprise, 'E-TND' developed the particular operation. Now HTMC system is patent pending by Guro Public Health Center and Department of Business Administration at Graduate School of Korea University is studying the operation status of HTMC system.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
Objects of HTMC system meet the primary requisite for e-Government; to treat civil complaints immediately with health administration using ICT and to be cost-effective.
The strategic goals regarding the object are;
1. to protect inhabitants against epidemic by coping with the dangerous situations effectively and efficiently i.e. the change of life cycle of mosquitoes in urban area because of climate change, malaria-carrying mosquitoes moving southwards, Japanese encephalitis carrying mosquitoes moving northwards.
2. to realization of reduction of unnecessary chemicals and medicine and of eco-friendly pest control.
3. to differentiate technology and abilities for pest control from other cities.
HTMC system is the result of realization of these objects. Considering vision of Mayor “Digital Guro, Clean Guro”, Director General of Public Health Center and officials in charge of pest control had numbers of strategic meetings and finally created the system.
Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) offered technical support, and city of Seoul consented to use Geographic Information Data(sewers map, building map, graphic cadastral map, aerial photos etc) and examined the feasibility study.
HTMC system consists of images of geographic information and electronic products(PDA, GPS and digital mosquito measuring equipment).

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
Regarding mosquito control system, HTMC system was examined for the feasibility in March 2008, processed the data(such as sewers map, building map, graphic cadastral map, and aerial photos) and installed the system in GPS on service vehicles and in PDAs of operation crews from April to July 2008 and Guro launched the system on the spot.
For the digital mosquito measuring equipment, Guro started studying to develop measuring equipment in February 2009 that is able to sort out mosquitoes from insects by using infrared ray sensor and completed development in May 2009. It has been utilizing for monitoring the population of mosquitoes in real time and for mosquito control operation from June 2009. Besides, 15 units were installed in areas of dense mosquito population and additional program (receiving the number of mosquitoes) was set up in the system through enhancing the existing mosquito control system.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
With regard to building mosquito control system applied with GIS, the cooperation with several superior authorities was needed to access the data about GIS. The server of the system had to be built in external network to avoid security problems of administrative intranet.
The officials in charge of budget slashed a budget for pest control service as they did not fully understand the system. Nevertheless, the will of Director General of Public Health Center was so firm that he could persuade Mayor and officials of Department of Budget and promoted the project.
As an academic backing about the characters of mosquitoes was needed in order to collect mosquitoes optionally from many kinds of harmful insects and measure them, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) offered the technical support. In result, the digital mosquito measuring equipment could be set on appropriately at the height of 60㎝ above ground where mosquitoes usually fly to prevent collecting other insects except mosquitoes. Moreover, a luring light was installed that emits CO2 slightly which is an attractant for mosquitoes.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
HTMC system applied with GIS was developed by 3 contractors with the data(such as sewers map, building map, graphic cadastral map, and aerial photos) that is necessary for pest control system out of geographic information of urban infrastructure of Seoul. Regarding development cost, Guro invested $12,000 in installation of hardware and $34,000 in development of software. Guro also produced 15 units of digital mosquito measuring equipment and it cost $12,500($833 per a unit). $10,000 was spent for construction of fence around the machine to protect and $8,333 was spent for enhancement work of the preexisting mosquito control system by relating it with GIS. The resources have been invested during two years and the amount of expenses was from budget of Guro. The HTMC is now in operation after the process of development.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The officials in charge of pest control at Public Health Center are monitoring in real-time the information(the quantity of collected mosquitoes, the areas where a mosquito control operation is need, and the location of operation crews). They can manage satisfyingly and reduction of expenses on chemicals and manpower occurred in consequence of the operation of HTMC system.
An efficient eco-friendly pest control might be required continuously in future and a construction of system also might be needed urgently according to the changeable environment of pest control that is affected by climate change. Thus, the accumulated data in HTMC system of Guro will be crucial information to understand proper period of mosquito control operation for a certain area and to understand climate change as well. HTMC system will be upgraded and progressed constantly.
18 municipalities in Korea are considering benchmarking and other 4 autonomous bodies already introduced the HTMC system and they are using it currently. Many people will suffer from epidemics caused by mosquitoes because of climate change. The pest control system that is able to take an action properly and immediately might have an impact on treatment of damages from mosquitoes in many countries such as Africa and South Asia as the system would be introduced. At international cooperative level, it might be possible to transfer technologies of the system and measuring equipment. For instance, the cooperation and collaboration will solve the problems like digital divide and climate change even threatening human being health and it will produce job creation as well.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
We are awakening a lot to the importance of responsibility of the administrator to facilitate creativity of officials and also learned that practical knowledge to apply ICT to administration is indispensible for public administration.
The key elements that made HTMC system successful are:
1. Creative thought of officials in Public Health Center
2. Close co-operations with subsidiary and/or related organizations
: technical support from Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC) and GIS of urban infrastructure of Seoul
3. Comprehension of ICT: Mayor and Heads of organizations tried to understand ICT thoroughly.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Guro Public Health Center
Institution Type:   Government Department  
Contact Person:   Taik Gun Hwang
Title:   Director General  
Telephone/ Fax:   82-2-860-3328(w) 82-10-5287-2421(cell)
Institution's / Project's Website:   82-2-860-2651
E-mail:   tgh1224@guro.go.kr  
Address:   Bogunsogil 33, Guro-5dong, Guro-gu
Postal Code:   152-055
City:   Seoul
State/Province:  
Country:  

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