The 6th June 2017 will mark the first-ever World Pest Awareness Day! This day was kick-started in China by the CPCA and along with The Confederation of European Pest Management Associations (CEPA) FAOPMA (Australasia) and NPMA (USA). It has been established to build awareness around the importance of pest control to protect food, homes, families, lives and businesses.
At Rentokil Initial, our mission is to protect people and enhance lives. Our pest control solutions range from protecting homes from the damages of termites to supporting communities and spectators from the Zika virus and other insect-borne diseases at public events like the Olympics.
On this World Pest Awareness Day, we are helping to raise awareness of the possible health risks associated with pests such as cockroaches, rodents and mosquitoes.
The increasing threat of mosquito-borne diseases
Over the past few years we have continued to provide support to communities and businesses around the world with effective pest control solutions to help prevent the risk of these biting insects spreading the range of diseases they are famous for.
Due to the diseases they spread, it is estimated that mosquitoes are responsible for causing 1 million deaths each year, making them the world’s deadliest animal.
Mosquito control is essential to ensure the health and safety of people. This requires a strong organisational treatment plan to not only eliminate local transmission of the diseases but to reduce the vulnerability of it and prevent future and secondary infections.
Preventing mosquito-borne diseases
During the 2016 summer Olympics in Brazil, the spread and risk of the Zika virus hit the news headlines and caused much alarm amongst competing athletes. Rentokil was contacted to assist in the prevention and control of mosquitoes for the Rio Olympics and the Paralympic Games.
Due to the successful outcome of our mosquito control programmes during this period, the World Health Organization invited Rentokil to participate in an international expert meeting on the control of Zika.
To add to this, in 2016 the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in North America, awarded Rentokil a two year contract to undertake mosquito control measures and develop local campaigns to help educate the public around Zika.
We also help support other communities around the world with preventing the diseases spread by mosquitoes.We are an active supporter of the charity Malaria No More, aiming to end malaria in our lifetime. Over many years, colleagues have raised considerable money through bake sales, marathons, cycle events and mountain climbs.
Rodent-borne diseases
A few species of rodents, particularly rats and mice, have adapted very well to the human environment and can thrive in urban locations.
Rodents are not only a common pest problem for homeowners, they also threaten the food supply chain. Their potential to contaminate what we eat and drink, as well as the places we live and work, poses significant risks to our health.
Similarly, due to their gnawing habits, rodents can cause a range of damages to electrical equipment. Our research shows that rodents such as rats are responsible for a loss of 8 working days due to the damages they cause.
Rodents can carry a range of disease causing organisms such as salmonellosis and the hantavirus. They also act as vectors and/or reservoirs for other diseases such as the plague due to ectoparasites such as fleas.
Given the potential to spread diseases, it is thought that rodents are responsible for more deaths than all the wars over the last 1,000 years.
Innovating to prevent rodent-borne diseases
Last year, Rentokil announced a collaboration with Google Cloud Solutions, PA Consulting Group . This partnership will help develop a new generation of innovative pest control solutions for rodents and other pests using the Internet Of Things (IoT) and the cloud platform.
This new collaboration has helped to improve our innovative rodent control solutions, which communicate with myRentokil, a customer portal, to provide effective pest monitoring and control 24/7, helping to mitigate the risk from pests.
As part of our commitment to innovation for risk mitigation, we are currently trialling 20,000 IoT enabled devices in 12 countries. These devices enable the monitoring of sites and provide immediate visibility of potential infestations that could disrupt businesses. The devices have also collected more than 3 million pieces of data, providing us with the insight needed to significantly improve the ways we can help organisations deliver on compliance and transparency.
The diseases spread by cockroaches
Cockroaches are synonymous with dirt and filth. They can often be found inhabiting sewers and other unhygienic areas, and have a diet that consists of pretty much anything, including animal faeces and other cockroaches
Because of their unhygienic tendencies, cockroaches can spread a range of harmful diseases and have also been responsible for helping to spread food-borne illnesses such as Salmonellosis. Studies have shown that these crawling insects can trigger asthma and other allergies due to the proteins in their bodies, as well as the saliva, faeces and their ability to shed skin.
Supporting standards to assure food safety
Every year pests cause enormous damage to the food industry, disrupting production processes, hitting revenue and posing major threats to health, safety and sanitary compliance.
At Rentokil Initial we are committed to helping the food supply chain deliver safer food,and believe it is important for the industry to come together to support global food safety, particularly at a time when new regulations are placing big demands on food-focused businesses to deliver safe food whilst managing increasingly stretched and complex global supply chains.
In April 2017, Rentokil Initial announced a strategic partnership with BRC Global Standards, a leading brand and consumer protection organisation, to improve best practice in the food industry and help customers mitigate risks throughout the food supply chain.
This partnership enables the ongoing collaboration and development of new initiatives to help support the goals of the BRC and Rentokil Initial.
This is achieved through the development of new, innovative, products, services, solutions, and industry best practice and standards to help improve the food supply chain through higher standards of pest control and hygiene.
We are also proud to support the Global Food Safety Initiative an important forum for the industry to come together to share knowledge and best practice and work collaboratively to drive continuous improvement and achieve the global food safety vision.
Rentokil Initial have been providing innovative pest control solutions for over 90 years helping to protect homes and businesses alike from an array of different species of pests from wasps and mosquitoes to termites and rats. We are honoured to help support the initiative of World Pest Awareness Day to highlight the importance of pest control.
If you are looking for professional advice, services and solutions to protect your home or business from pests, contact the experts at Rentokil today.
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