Schoolchildren, troops join battle against dengue fever

Public health inspectors check a water sample as part of dengue fever clean-up operations

Schoolchildren and troops have joined forces in a massive nationwide clean-up, as part of National Dengue Control Month.

In?the campaign to beat the dengue virus, the children have been tasked with targeting places where mosquitoes breed and thrive.

Over 9,000 schools are involved in the initiative, cleaning and disinfecting the places where mosquitoes typically gather, both at their own school premises and in public places.

?The children have been removing any garbage piles and cleaning out blocked drains,? said Jacintha Wickramsinghe, a teacher at St. Lawrence Convent School in Colombo, ?and we?re continuing the clean-up operation every day.?

More than 10,000 military officers have joined them in their efforts by draining large pools of stagnating water.

Nalini Subasinghe, a social worker in Colombo, added that raising awareness was also a vital part of the campaign.? ?We are using posters, hoardings and leaflets to inform the public in almost every part of the country,? she said.

She has a particular motivation for being involved in the project. ?My neighbor?s 11-year-old girl died last week due to dengue haemorrhagic fever,? she said.

?She was a brilliant scholar, but now the little girl has passed away and her parents have lost their only child to dengue.?

Children are especially vulnerable to the disease, which has been growing rapidly around the world since the 1960s. Sri Lankan government figures show that, of the 15,500 people infected with dengue in the first five months of this year ? which proved fatal in 75 cases ? many?were children.

The government itself has contributed to the effort by strengthening the Mosquito Control Act. ?People who violate the Act will be subjected to fines ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 rupees,? said the Health Minister, Maithripala Sirisena. ?Violators could also face a prison sentence of up to six months.?

The World Health Organization classifies Sri Lanka as a ?Category A? country for dengue fever, which denotes that the disease is a leading cause of hospitalization and death among children; there are cyclical epidemics in urban areas; and the virus is a major public health concern.

Three other Southeast Asian countries share this classification: Thailand, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste.

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Reporter: Lawrence

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Caption: Public Health Inspectors and people are in a cleanupoperation to eliminate mosquito-breeding grounds

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Source: http://www.ucanews.com/2012/07/05/schoolchildren-troops-join-battle-against-dengue-fever/

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