LAHORE:
“Preparedness and timely response are crucial to countering dengue. It can be controlled if everyone works together.” This was stated by Dr Rita Kusriastuti, director of Vector Control in Indonesia, while making a presentation on the second day of the international conference, Dengue and Its Control, organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Five international experts, including Dr Kusriastuti, gave presentations on key issues to control and prevent the dengue fever globally.
The presenters, who had all been in Pakistan during the 2011 dengue outbreak, appreciated the steps taken by the government to tackle the problem.
Dr H El Bushra, regional adviser for communicable disease surveillance and response at WHO’s eastern Mediterranean regional office, emphasised the importance of accurate reporting and using the patient data to respond appropriately.
Dr Raman Velayudhan, a WHO scientist, presented the WHO strategy for integrated vector management to attack the three similar vectors for dengue, malaria and leishmaniasis at the same time.
He also reviewed the WHO pesticide evaluation scheme, which, he said, was a valuable and comprehensive guide for choosing the effective insecticides.
Dr Asiya IA Odugleh-Kolev, from WHO headquarters, focused on the role of social mobilisation and communication for the prevention and control of dengue.
Prof Siripen Kalyanarooj, director of the WHO collaborating centre in Bangkok, described key issues regarding case management. She gave suggestions on how to improve the triage system, the process of determining the priority in patients’ treatments based on the severity of their condition. She also emphasised close monitoring of the dengue wards to identify dengue hemorrhagic fever cases at an early stage.
The presentations were followed by working groups, where 16 international and 150 national dengue experts discussed ways to curb dengue and suggested recommendations to improve the responses. Wednesday (today) is the last day of the conference.
‘Polio vaccine up to international standard’
A WHO delegation met Health Secretary Capt (retired) Arif Nadeem and Khwaja Salman Rafique, special assistant to the chief minister, on Tuesday. The delegation was headed by Dr Hussein A Jezairy, the WHO special adviser. The delegates and the officials discussed strategies for complete eradication of polio.
Dr Jezairy said that the vaccine being used in the campaign against polio in Pakistan was of international standard. He said the same vaccine was being used in anti police campaigns around the world. He said that polio was a fatal disease and every child needed to be vaccinated.
The Health secretary assured the WHO delegation that the provincial government was making all efforts to eradicate polio.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 29th, 2012.
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