Social awareness

LAHORE: This is the peak season for the breeding of dengue mosquitoes and the spread of disease in the country, especially in urban areas. About 25 confirmed patients have been reported so far in Punjab and out of this most belong to urban areas. And it’s start of the season. Almost all the vector-borne diseases and water borne diseases, including dengue, malaria, congo, naegleria and polio, etc, are spreading due to the poor environmental conditions and lack of awareness.

It takes a lot of government and public resources to control these diseases, though they are not completely eliminated. The government works to keep the disease in control through daily vector surveillance, chemical, mechanical and biological controls which eats up a big amount of budget and skilled human resource. Aedes aegypti and aedes abopictus are the two types of dengue mosquito, which are the major cause of dengue fever. Mostly they breed in man-made environment. Aedes aegypti is also called the domestic mosquito as it resides in our homes. It is monsoon season and water may be stored in containers that are left outside or on the roof which give female mosquitoes a chance to lay eggs and breed, if left unattended for seven to 10 days.

Integrated Vector Management (IVM) is a strategy used to control the disease in the affected areas. All the government and allied departments work together and use their resources to control the spread of the disease. In the IVM technique social mobilisation is the major element for its successful execution. Social mobilisation is aimed at changing public behaviour to adopt the preventive measures against diseases. People need to be educated about these diseases in order to become part of the solution to reduce burden on hospitals.

Shahid Rasool

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2014.

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