ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that green social workers play critical roles in undertaking research that links human behaviour to environmental challenges that undermine well-being. It highlights how they can engage local residents in behavioural change including cleaning up mosquito breeding grounds that are created through everyday routines like the inadequate disposal of garbage. The term chikungunya is derived from an African Makonde word 'kungunyala' which means 'that which bends up', following the stooped posture adopted as a result of the arthritic symptoms of the disease. Chikungunya is an alphavirus member of the Togaviridae family, first described in 1952 when an outbreak was observed in southern Tanzania. Chikungunya infections generally cause fever, headache, myalgia, maculopapular rashes, acute joint swelling, persistent arthritis, and even life-threatening neurological or cardiovascular complications. The first cases of chikungunya in the Caribbean were reported on the island of St. Martin. Six months later it reached Curacao.
