All images from Oswaldo Cruz Foundation

The health and social development not-for-profit Oswaldo Cruz Foundation is calling for dengue prevention. In just 10 minutes a week Brazilians can help combat dengue.

The campaign’s a simple one. All it asks of households is to keep an eye out for potential dengue-carrying mosquito breeding grounds in and around the home. But rather than making this request a general one, they’ve turned it into a simple – and specific – task. And because it only takes 10 minutes to complete, it doesn’t feel like a chore either.The Foundation

The Foundation created a poster listing 13 spots around the home that could collect water. They include plant pots, swimming and paddling pools, and water tanks. The poster includes a checklist, so people can tick off the places they’ve checked for stagnant water. It also features pictures, so it’s really clear where homeowners should look and makes it simple enough even for children to take part.

But why a week? The Foundation explains that checking water containers every seven days is enough to stop dengue developing. The aedes aegypti mosquito develops from an egg to an adult in a seven to 10-day cycle. So if households remember to empty containers of stagnant water once a week, then dengue-carrying mosquitoes will never have a chance to develop. And that’s definitely good news for everyone.