Dengue, water and households : Habits and habitats for Aedes aegypti in Maputo City

Rapid population growth and increased urban density has not coupled sufficient and continuous water services in cities of the global south. Aedes aegypti, the mosquito carrying Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya (DZC), can easily find breeding sites in humid coastal cities were water supply, water quality, and sanitation are deficient. In some of these cities water storage is a widespread practice. Hence, understandings of DZC should expose the environmental conditions in which Aedes aegypti lives, and relate these to historical contexts of urbanisation. Concomitantly, it should also document everyday water-storage practices, and understand the reasons why people store water in their homes. This research aims to analyse the contexts and histories of urbanisation in relation to practices and places of water-storage, while linking these practices with mosquito ecologies in six bairros of Maputo, Mozambique. In order to describe the process and reasons of mosquito habitat emergence, a documentation of how everyday water-storing habits occur in each bairro was performed. Simultaneously, an analysis of the aquatic factors contributing to the establishment of habitats for Aedes aegypti was executed. This study followed a mixed methodology research design as it permitted a pragmatic dialogue between qualitative and quantitative information regarding Aedes mosquitoes in Maputo. Everyday water-storing habits emergence was studied by conducting semi-structured interviews and participant observations in 26 households. In addition, the analysis was enriched by historical records, peer reviewed publications, and academic literature. As a result, three main drivers of water-storing habits were identified: household design and composition, water service intermittence, and water containers as markers of socioeconomic differences. The analysis of the aquatic factors contributing to the establishment of habitats for Aedes aegypti was addressed by gathering and analysing quantitative data in the 26 households of study. Measurements of temperature (C°), pH, and Electrical conductivity (µ S / cm²) of tap and stored water were performed in water containers identified as probable habitats for Aedes mosquitoes. These observations bring forward an analysis of water-storing practices as habits people have and nurture, in specific socioeconomic, historic, and cultural contexts. These habits are connected to urbanisation developments and the characteristics of the city’s water services, which in turn elicit the emergence of habitats for Aedes mosquitoes. This study shows how water containers are socionatural constructions in Maputo, where habits of water storage are persistently related to habitats for Aedes mosquitoes