Nigeria, Nov. 17 -- The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced plans to test a mosquito sterilisation technique aimed at containing the spread of diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika.

The Sterile Insect Technique, a form of "birth control" for mosquitoes and other deadly insects, has been used to tackle invasive pests in the past. It was first developed by the United States Department of Agriculture and has been used successfully to target insects that attack crops and livestock, especially the Mediterranean fruit fly and the New World screwworm fly. It is now being used across the world to boost agriculture.

The UN health agency said it had recently observed that the technique could prove successful in controlling some ...