Legal framework

Legal frameworks which provide certain tools or rights facilitating mosquito control seem to be limited. Only two countries (Cyprus, Spain) out of the 12 refer to 'the right to enter private property', two (Cyprus, Luxembourg) to 'tyre recycling regulation (e.g. storage regulations)', and three (Cyprus, Luxembourg, Spain) to 'Importation regulations'.

In Bulgaria, mosquito control falls within a broader pest-control ordinance issued by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture. The ordinance addresses general hygiene and pest-management obligations for public facilities, including disinfection, disinsection and deratisation measures when pests are present. In Greece, recommendations for the vector control activities are embedded in relevant circulars of the Ministry of Health on mosquito management. In Malta, there is no specific legal framework relating to vector control. However, the Public Health Act grants the Superintendent of Public Health the power to implement measures to protect the public from communicable diseases including arboviruses.

Who is responsible and implements Culex control

Preventive Cu/ex control is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Health at national level in six of the 12 countries. In Croatia this responsibility lies with both the Ministry of Health at the sub-national level and the Ministry of Environment at the sub-national level. Reactive vector control is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health at the national level in five of the 12 countries. Other authorities responsible for Cu/ex control are: regional authorities (Spain), Municipalities and Institute of Public Health of Montenegro (Montenegro), the regional and municipal authorities, supervised by the Ministry of Interior (Greece), the Ministry of Interior, Disaster Management (Hungary), Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government at the national level, the Secretariat for Urbanism and Environmental Protection at the Vojvodina Province level and municipalities on the local level (Serbia), and local authorities (UK).

In five countries, preventive control is designed at the national level and in eight countries reactive control is designed at the national level. In Spain some regions develop their own plan and while others adopt the national plan.

The design of the control plan is done by different entities depending on the country (Table). In most countries (9/12 countries) the readjustments of these plans are done by the same agency as the once designing the plan. The frequency of the evaluation and re-adjustment is not known for six out of the 12 responders. Two countries (Greece, Montenegro) evaluate and re-adjust their plans every year.

Table 6. Who designs the actual control plan? (multiple answers possible) (n = 12)

In three (Croatia, Italy, Serbia) out of the 12 countries, funding for both preventive and reactive control is ad hoc and limited in time. In Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, Spain the funding of preventive control is embedded in a long-term strategy of disease control. In Cyprus, Greece, Montenegro and Spain the funding for reactive control is part of a long-term strategy. Four countries (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta, UK) did not answer this question or did not know.

The execution of preventive and reactive mosquito control in most countries is done by a Public or Veterinary health agency, or by a private company (Table). In the UK, this is the responsibility of the local authorities.

Table 7. Who is responsible for the execution of the Culex mosquito control in your country? (multiple answers possible) (n = 13)