First meeting of OCP commission: aerial operations

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANTE ON0HOCEBCIAS]S CONTROIJ PROGRA]I,IE IN TTIX VOITA RI1rER B/ISIN AREA F]R,ST T,METTNG OF OCP COI,,IMISSION AERIAI OPE&A.T]ONS B. Cliff Ouagadougou, May 1979 AER,IAI OPERATIONS It[r walsh has erpLained the stnrctr-re of the vector control unit andits place in the onchocercia.sls.control- rrofume. rt rrill be reaLizedthat the sPearhea.d of the unit ls the deposiiio" of the lnsecticlde on tothe riverine habitat of the lagral stage of s.oamrosr.m. At the i.:e.Ltiationof the Progra'nme, it was tteclaed th;;l;";;;-f'8ffi;s"j.t,a" ,rra eomplexityof the ?rogremme. area the or:J-y^feasible wf*"" by the use of a_treraft.Furtherr since the operati-on Lf a fleet oy' Jro"rrt, particularry aircraftueed for the application of lnsecticides, is-a rrighiy-speciJized busi.ness,it was decltted to call in the serrrices oi an aerlal contractor. operating a m'jxed fleet of helicopters and fixed w:lng aircraft is notonly specialized blLt ln the particular area of the progrernms there areu:rique problens. Dr:st resulis in "*""""ir" "rrgirr" wear, high temperat,resaffect aircraft performance, navlgating is a problem in the Ham^attanseason and there is poor comunicitionl At the start of the progrenrme,the aerial operation was put out for rnternational bidding and prospective ffi:jf,T|!il n* to incorporate and eva-Iuate au these ;;;";"-probrens i.:a The aerial operation is of course geared to the biology of the f1y antlit is henee imperatlve that the treatm"it or breeding rivers talces placeweekly w'ithout frl}. rn eonsequence j.t was necessa_rxr to compile a verystrict Bld document' [he rnvliation to Bid is hence a very comprehenslveand lengtl5r document lncorporati.g a severe penalty clause in case ofclefault by the contractor. At the end of 1979 we will have had the serv-ices of 2 aerial contraetors. 'Agr American compaq)r, Evergreen Helicopters ir". rr"ra the in:-iiu_r z y"os anda canadian compar\y, vi-king Helicopters rtd. hold the present contract.lYith the erperience of 2 contractors, \{Ho have been able to lmprove uponthe type of speciarized lnsecticide release-equtpnent reqrrlred for sj.:orrlir.mcontrol. rt ha-s been fountt that dry seasor, ir"rt "nt requires airtffiF-techn:iques and applicatior, "q,rip*ent to that required in the wet season.The present hellcopter equipri""i incorporates such a dr,.1 system whereasthe initial eqrripment at-thl strrt.of ifre p"og"u*" sl_np1y lnvolved therelease of measured quantitles of. insectici;;T; a single system, found tobe rather ineffectlve in the height of the-Jry-L"*or.. The work is seasonal and ln th-e peak period of actirity g helicoptersancl 2 fixecl w:ing are used to treat 18 ooo tore or river per week in contrastto 6 helieopters and 2 fixed wlng aircraft used. in the dry season to treatB OO0 kms of ri-ver per week. Aerial operations are conducted fr.om 2 bases, Bobo_Dioulasso with 4helicopters and 1 fixed wir:g ana rama-le in luortrrern Ghana, also with 4helicopters and 1 fixed *tI "i""raft. ror.r of the 1g professional staffworklng ln vcu are empl0yed on the aeria-l .p""rtiorrs ten,n, 2Ihe operatio4 ls not rrnJ.ike a huge mi t i tqsy lgg.tstic€-l exercise forol€ehizing the loglstics forus a majoi part. notn [ericopt"rs-Ld flxedwing aircra-ft eu:rrently used have an end.urance of about zi/z not:rs which means they mr,st land for fuel and often insecticide every 2 [or.rrs when outon a rLlssion. II[e have a]most 100 fuel and lnseeticide caches t]rror:ghoutthe Prograrrme area and in 1978t BOO OO0 litres of arriation fuel and215 000 litres of insecticide had. to be distributed to these caches. Slnce.in the rainy sea.son many of the roads in the Progrnrnme area become i-mpassable;the eistrlbution of these supplies has to be mad.e before the onset of the r.ra-i:rse Aerial operatj-ons, are geared to the current entomological sttuation ancl there is close liaison between those working in entomoiogical evaluationancl aerlal operations staff. lTeekly deci.sions Le taken which rivers totreat dependent on the previous weetrs results. Aerlal operations eonsequentlyhave to be fluid' enough to handle the oonstent ihanges mais 1n treatmentcirgtrlts.