Clean Your Compound to Avoid Disease Causing Organisms: Dr Waqainabete
‘Fiji’s location is unique yet vulnerable to natural disasters’.
As of January of this year, Fiji has recorded 1,259 leptospirosis cases. Fifty per cent were from the Central Division, 25 per cent from the north, 20 per cent in the west and five per cent in the Eastern Division. Minister for Health and Medical Services Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete while launching the Leptospirosis, Typhoid, Dengue, and Diarrhea campaign in Ba on Wednesday said there were 21 admissions at the Intensive Care Unit and 18 deaths. “In addition, there was a total of 4,193 laboratory-confirmed dengue cases; 40 per cent of the cases were from the Central Division, 37 per cent in the north, 21 per cent here in the west and two per cent in the Eastern Division. There were four ICU admissions and three lives were lost to dengue,” he said. Dr Waqainabete added that there were more than 233 cases of typhoid in the same period with two deaths clinically suspected to be typhoid deaths.
“The simple act of maintaining your compound clean and free from rubbish or waste goes a long way in ensuring that we do not allow disease-causing organisms that cause leptospirosis, typhoid and dengue to breed or live among us,” the minister said.
He said Fiji’s location was unique yet vulnerable to natural disasters.
“So as we embark on this National Disaster Awareness week, I am calling on all citizens and residents of our beloved nation to mobilise your communities, villages, settlements, schools, business houses and clean your compound,” he said.