Is fumigation, fogging and awareness about the dengue fever enough to control this mosquito-borne disease? NO.
No, because without addressing the root causes, we can hardly overcome the problem of dengue fever. Accumulation of solid waste, and standing water during the ongoing monsoon season, in urban and rural areas, continues to be neglected by authorities despite the growing concern about the spread of dengue fever.
During periods of heavy rain, water accumulates in shopping bags, empty bottles, flowerpots, broken egg shells and crockery to create an environment which is known to be conducive to the reproduction of mosquitoes.
Recently, I spoke to an official in the ministry of national services, regularisation and coordination (NSRC) regarding the dengue issue: “Every year, millions of rupees are being spent on mass public awareness campaigns and on fumigation but very little is being spent on solid waste and water management,” said the official.
He added that the Punjab government had recently observed ‘anti-dengue day’. However, it would have been better if the government had focused on cleaning the cities instead. I cannot seem to forget his words.
The situation in Islamabad is quite bad. Every time I call the deputy commissioner in Islamabad and ask him about the pathetic condition of solid waste management system in suburbs of the area, I always get to hear that, “We are still waiting for the government to release the funds.”
I came to another startling revelation recently: On the federal level there is nobody to maintain the consolidated dengue data as to how many cases have been reported in Islamabad, both in public and private hospitals. However, hospital administrations have made tall claims about establishing isolation wards and creating awareness [about dengue prevention] by hanging banners.
One of the largest referral hospitals in the capital has plastic bags hanging on bushes, puddles of rainwater and dripping bathroom taps in its wards — all of these provide favourable breeding grounds for dengue mosquitoes. And most of all, these conditions pose a threat to the lives of many people at the hospital itself; the attendants and patients who spend nights under the open sky with their kids and suffer through a lot of mosquito bites.
It seems that putting to an end to the dengue fever in Pakistan is still a distant dream.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2013.
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