Releasing mosquitoes to fight dengue: How Singapore took Project Wolbachia from lab to heartlands
Singapore's NEA is utilizing Project Wolbachia, which involves releasing male mosquitoes to suppress the Aedes aegypti population. This initiative aims to reduce dengue transmission following years of research and successful field trials.
Why it matters
This biological control method represents a significant public health strategy for managing mosquito-borne diseases in urban environments.
Project Wolbachia, which started in 2016, uses specially bred male mosquitoes to suppress the Aedes aegypti population and reduce the risk of dengue.
An NEA field officer releasing male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes at an HDB block. (File photo: NEA)
Claudia Lim & Calvin Yang 02 Sep 2026 01:26PM Bookmark Bookmark Share WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Set CNA as your preferred source on Google Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. Read a summary of this article on FAST. Get bite-sized news via a new cards interface. Give it a try. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST SINGAPORE: Releasing mosquitoes to fight dengue may sound counterintuitive, but Singapore has spent more than a decade developing the approach to tackle the problem.
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