Sheela Patel says, "We talk about water conservation in the summer, not before the rains, we talk about mosquitoes when 400 people died of dengue.
The most obvious dangers to favela residents include" health risks from the overflow of inadequate sewage systems; an outbreak of dengue fever in the city from mosquitoes that breed in standing water; and the high risk, due to the tightly packed wooden constructions, of fire.
"But what was striking to me was that there was a triple injustice enacted upon them: first, the flooding circulated rubbish and human waste around the slum, leading to outbreaks of malaria, dengue, leptospirosis, and general ill health since people had less access to food, water, medicine, and healthcare, and emergency services neglected these areas, focusing on middle-class neighbourhoods.
This includes an uptick in deaths from cardio-respiratory disease, heat-related illness and death, increased rates of potential transmission of vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria, and a shrinking in the quantity and quality of available water, further amplifying the burden of disease.
While I've managed to avoid the malaria, dengue fever and tuberculosis that's riddled my (male) colleagues, there are 101 things that make the rainforest a rather disagreeable place.
(Lahore, in Pakistan, has a similar service to get standing water removed, to discourage mosquitoes and dengue).Official enthusiasm for online transactions is growing fast.
Since 2001 three states have seen outbreaks of dengue fever.
They also recorded where larvae were spotted (usually in traps), and reported the locations of known dengue patients.The resulting data were then analysed to create a visualisation showing where and when dengue was infecting people.
Singapore, the region's richest country, has a sophisticated dengue-control programme, with house-to-house inspections yet its infection rate is still rising.
The chief minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, who was re-elected in May, led daily meetings on the anti-dengue fight.
But foggers sometimes spread their helpful poison too liberally, where no dengue-infected mosquitoes are present, or too rarely, perhaps neglecting poor neighbourhoods.
