While the world was struggling with a pandemic, Bangladesh was hit by an epidemic within a pandemic. Dengue the problem was always there, but numbers went higher during the pandemic. The biggest concern is its effect on children because of their thin skin. According to WHO, 101,000 cases were reported in Bangladesh. Various sources dictate dengue patients are usually higher than government figures as many patients treated at private health facilities are not added to the official tally.

Akash Digital TV, the biggest DTH (Direct-To-Home) brand in the country, is a believer of delivering uninterrupted entertainment, but Dengue causing mosquitoes won’t let people have that. To live up to their promise they wanted to do something for their customers to make their life better and come across as an empathetic and purposeful brand.

Enter Mosblock, a unique yet low-cost mosquito repellent curtain that has Zebra like black and white pattern which creates an illusion in the compound eyes of the mosquitos and derails their landing.

So, Zebra prints were turned into Mosblock Curtains, working as repellents, blocking mosquitoes from entering the homes.

Densely populated urban slums, the home of 5.3 million people, are the hotbed for the dengue outbreak. According to research titled ‘Hospital-based cross-sectional KAP assessment at Dhaka North and Dhaka South City Corporation area’, 21.9 % of admitted dengue patients were hailed from the lower class and they are predominantly the inhabitants from these slums. Low-income slum communities tend to participate in practices like celebrating festivals, watching TV together as a community, discussing news, meeting for tea, etc. Because of these practices, they become exposed to the deadly Aedes mosquitos. Most repellents that they can opt in for are hazardous for health. The only safe defense they have is a mosquito net but how practical that can be!

So, the strategy was to look for inspiration in the nature and create something that can be contextualized easily.

Mosblock was designed based on a finding of a collaborative research done by the staff of the Aichi Agricultural Research Center and AG school colleagues at Kyoto University. The research revealed that in the animal planet, Zebra gets less attacked by mosquitoes because of their black and white pattern that creates an illusion in the compound eyes of mosquitos, which derails their landing. Different cultures have practiced this principle for centuries.

Inspired by this, Mosblock curtains were designed, and a pilot project started in Korail, the largest slum in Dhaka. The program began with an activation campaign across slums, distributing MosBlock curtains amongst households, completely for free.

The activation crew engaged slumdwellers by sparking the conversation around dengue, educating them about the Zebra fact and how Mosblock curtains can help them prevent Aedes mosquitos from entering homes when they are enjoying their time at home or engaged in some work.

The activation touched 1000 households in Korail Slum and will touch more in other slums.

Less mosquito bites were reported from the households where Mosblock was installed.

The idea garnered a massive buzz on social and other media channels.

Several fashion boutiques have also picked it up and launched Mosblock themed clothing lines to make the fight against dengue stronger. The initiative garnered a PR Value of US$ 205,614 and 39 million reach. The social media video had a reach of 9M+.

The initiative powers people to enjoy entertainment safely, securely, and uninterruptedly in their homes, taking us one step closer to drawing a curtain over the world’s dengue problem.