About

The UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (PIE Center), as part of a Florida Department of Health grant, created the initial Prevent & Protect web page and related materials to help local officials communicate to residents of Florida’s cities and counties about the importance of mosquito control efforts and how residents can help reduce mosquito populations. A second grant, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provided funds to expand Prevent & Protect to a full website; add more detailed information about mosquito-borne illnesses, particularly the Zika virus; and translate materials into Spanish and Haitian Creole.

On this website, you will learn how to use two toolkits designed to educate local communities about mosquito control. Each toolkit has pre-made social media posts and graphics that are easy to use to inform the public about the importance of mosquito control. The Mosquito Control Toolkit educates the public on mosquito control and the negative impact mosquitoes can have in local communities. There are four parts to the Mosquito Control Toolkit: personal responsibility, mosquito-borne illness, nuisance and economy, and application method. The Emergency Response Toolkit educates the public about mosquito control emergency response actions, primarily after a hurricane or flood and during a disease outbreak. Both toolkits include social media content with suggestions on when to publish each post, as well as instructions on how to download the components and customize each item to best fit mosquito control educational efforts.