Dengue soaring: Two major campaigns from Thursday

The dengue death toll rose to 130 this week with more than 50,000 cases reported islandwide so far this year, according to the National Dengue Control unit.

Most cases have been reported from 12 districts -- Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Kegalle, Jaffna, Batticaloa and Trincomale.

Dengue Control Unit Consultant Community Physician Prechila Samaraweera told Sunday Times the number of cases and deaths were increasing and people had to take more responsibility to keep their surroundings clean. Many awareness campaigns have been launched, with two of them starting on Thursday. The campaigns will be conducted by the Ministry of Health under the guidance of the President.Dr. Samaraweera said the aim of both these campaigns was the same but the implementation methods were different She said the campaigns would go on for three months. After the conclusion of the first session on Thursday, the special aware- ness programme will be held for one hour every Friday and the people will be called upon to clean their surroundings. “Everyone has to be a part of this massscale awareness campaign. Public and private institutions, schools, houses, construction sites and religious places are expected to take part,” she said. The ministry's second programme involves engaging 2,500 teams islandwide. These teams will include personnel of the Army, Police, Public Health Inspectors (PHI) and Medical officers of Health (MOH).

The three-day programme will be con- ducted once in two weeks. Red notices and yellow notices will be issued to those who do not maintain cleanliness in their surrounding. This programme will be mainly targeted in areas where a higher number of cases are reported.Dr. Samaraweera warned that the prevailing weather conditions could increase the number of dengue cases and deaths if effective action was not taken. She said public support and their involvement in the awareness campaigns were necessary to curb the increasing number of dengue deaths and cases.