Awareness to the populace regarding pest management in public health (Urban facilities and industries)

1. INSPECTION + IDENTIFICATION +
DETERMINATION + PREVENTION + COMMUNICATION
= SOLUTION

2. WHAT IS Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
is an environmentally friendly, common sense approach to controlling
pests.
- A careful combination of all available control methods to produce a
long-term solution of a certain pest problem.
- is a broad-based approach that integrates practices for economic
control of pests.
- aims to suppress pest populations below the economic injury level.

3. PRINCIPLES OF Integrated Pest Management
 PREVENTION - adoption of measures to reduce the chance of occurrence of pest.
program take advantage of all appropriate pest management strategies, including the judicious use of pesticides. Preventive pesticide
application is limited because the risk of pesticide exposure may outweigh the benefits of control, especially when non-chemical
methods provide the same results.
To produce a good preventive control measures, inspection of the premise must be done to know the status for identification of pest
presence, risk of infestation, to determine and formulate control methods based on the result of inspection and identification.
 MONITORING - can be done through observations, use of devices, forecasting and early diagnosis systems, advice from
professionally qualified advisers or consultants. IPM is not a single pest control method but rather involves integrating multiple
control methods based on site information obtained through: inspection and evaluation of identified pest risk status. Correct pest
identification is required to: Determine the best preventive measures. Reduce the unnecessary use of pesticides. correct
identification will prevent the elimination of beneficial organisms. Many monitoring techniques are available and often vary according
to the pest. Successful IPM programs routinely monitors pest populations; areas vulnerable to pests; and the efficacy of prevention
and control methods. IPM plans should be updated in response to monitoring results.

4.  ACTION PLAN/DECISION MAKING -is done based on the results of the monitoring. IPM focuses on threshold-based intervention in most of
the cases. An action threshold is the pest population level at which the pest's presence is a:nuisance;health hazard; economic threat.
Setting an action threshold is critical to guiding pest control decisions. A defined threshold will focus the size, scope, and intensity of an IPM plan.
However, threshold is difficult to define in most of the cases and in case of tolerant species, decision of intervention is based on the general
observations. We should also be aware that specific Industries (food, on-food, warehouse, health facilities, offices, residential, etc.), pest life
cycle, climatic condition, etc., should be considered before making any kind of decisions.
 NON-CHEMICAL METHODS - IPM focuses on prevention by removing conditions that attract pests, such as food, water, and shelter. Activity
mainly Sanitation & Exclusion. Wherein reducing clutter, sealing areas where pests enter the building (weatherization), removing trash and
overgrown vegetation, maintaining clean dining and food storage areas, installing pest barriers, removing standing water, educating building
occupants on IPM. Non-chemical methods include soil-solarization or biological control; Use of live natural enemies is one of the major non-
chemical (biological) intervention method; Other non-chemical methods include biological, physical, mechanical and ecological methods.

5.  CHEMICAL METHOD - IPM doesn’t totally avoid the use of the pesticides. When the alternative methods are not properly used then the
pesticides are used for pest control. The pesticides used however needs to be as specific as possible for the target. The pesticides shouldn’t
possess any threat to the health of human, non-target living organisms and environment.- Pesticide use reduced needs to be supported by
the other means of intervention, it helps in reducing the side effects of the pesticides.
Unmanaged and haphazard use of the pesticides have created the problem of resistance and pests have developed the resistance and the
use of pesticides have less effect on them.
Anti-resistant strategies include use of combination of different pesticides that has different mode of action, applied in different time.
 DOCUMENTATION/EVALUATION - documenting pest control actions is critical in evaluating success and should include: An on-site record of
each pest control service, including all pesticide applications, in a searchable, organized system; Evidence that non-chemical control methods
were considered and implemented; Recommendations for preventing future pest problems.

6. BENEFITS / ADVANTAGES OF Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
 LOWER COST INTERVENTION - Traditionally, the use of the pesticides to control the pest invasion would account to lots of cost. Also, these pesticides need to
be imported as well. Reduce the number of pests, with lesser number of pesticide applications. While pesticides can play a key role in IPM programs, by their very
nature most pesticides pose some risk. They are powerful tools for controlling pests but need to be used carefully and judiciously. . Moreover, different techniques
involved in IPM are more sustainable with long lasting benefits.
 BENEFITS TO THE ENVIRONMENT - IPM is an eco-friendly approach and the effects on the environment is always considered before the application of any
interventions. It is obvious that in an IPM schedule the use of pesticides will be considerably reduced, hence the pesticide residue hazards will also get automatically
minimized.
 HEALTH BENEFITS - Adopting IPM reduces exposure to both pests and pesticides. It is obvious that in an IPM schedule the use of pesticides will be considerably
reduced, hence the pesticide residue hazards will also get automatically minimized.
 ANTI RESISTANCE - It discourages the use of chemicals and thus creates less cases of anti-resistance. Pesticides are used only when the other alternatives are
not satisfying.
 ECONOMIC CONSIDERATION - IPM may be more labor intensive than conventional pest control and may require more up-front resources. However, costs are
generally lower over time because the underlying cause of the pest problem has been addressed. IPM practices also provide financial benefits unrelated to pests. For
example, weatherization of buildings not only excludes pests but also saves energy and reduces moisture problems.

7. DISADVANTAGES OF Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
 CONTRIBUTES MORE TECHNICALITIES OF ITS METHODS -IPM needs to be planned; demands more attention and dedication requires expertise
of various field. Integrated pest management systems are extremely complex and require a higher level of understanding. All those involved in the IPM needs to
be educated and trained which often requires much time.
 TIME AND ENERGY CONSUMING - Application of IPM takes time, much time is needed in planning itself as strategies differs from region to region, a
separate plan is required for each region. Require more staff time than traditional pest management. The expected results of intervention may take long time to
be achieved.

8. CONCLUSION
Worldwide industrialization and modernization occurs, more living organisms becomes pest. Science advancement and technicalities
also goes with it. Environment and Health of the populace also affected. As a result, researchers opted to adapt Integrated Pest
Management (IPM) to both Agriculture and Public Health in order to balance the effect and enhance existence of mankind and other
living organism in this modern & industrialized world.
IPM will educate populace to go back to basic and enhance careful combination of available control methods while minimizing the
used of chemical pesticide. In this manner environment and health will be protected. In the long run next future generations will
benefits the effect of Integrated Pest Management wherein safer environment and enough healthy and safe food will be produced.