Dengue, the deadly mosquito-borne fever had reached epidemic proportions in Sri Lanka.

‘Mawbima’ a nationwide newspaper, wanted to do its part in the fight against Dengue. But how could it truly make a difference? People read the newspaper in the early morning and evening – the very time the Dengue mosquito strikes. This gave us an idea: if we mixed citronella essence, a highly effective natural repellent, with ink, we could turn Mawbima into the world's first mosquito-repellent poster

We started the campaign by creating letters in the style of the Mawbima masthead. Each character stopped a dengue mosquito from passing through. These letters were then used on educational posters at bus shelters, where they were printed with our innovative mosquito-repellant ink so people wouldn’t be bitten. The paper also ran articles on preventing Dengue and gave school kids mosquito-prevention patches featuring the letters we created.

Finally, on the last day of National Dengue Week, Mawbima published the world’s first mosquito-repellant newspaper where all the letters of all the words helped stop Dengue.

Even with a bigger print run, the paper sold out by 10am – a sales increase of 30%. This led to Mawbima's readership increasing by 300,000, allowing us to help and educate more people than we ever expected. Through the power of a simple innovation, we had given Mawbima the last word on Dengue.

We started the campaign by creating letters in Sinhala, the country’s native language, in the style of the Mawbima masthead. Each character stopped a dengue mosquito from passing through. This was a very powerful depiction of how every letter of every word would stop dengue. These were printed using our mosquito-repellent ink and used as posters at bus stops to educate people and provide protection.

Finally, on the last day of National Dengue Week, Mawbima published the world’s first mosquito-repellant newspaper – a newspaper where all the letters of all the words helped Sri Lankans stop Dengue.

Even with a bigger print run, the paper sold out by 10am – a sales increase of 30%. This led to Mawbima's readership increasing by 300,000, allowing us to help and educate more people than we ever expected. Through the power of a simple innovation, we had given Mawbima the last word on Dengue.