Delhi’s anti-dengue drive is laudable

Ten minutes a week to get rid of stagnant water is well worth it to fight dengue

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s anti-dengue 10 weeks-10 o’clock-10 minutes campaign (#10Hafte10baje10minute), asking people to spend 10 minutes at 10 am every Sunday for 10 weeks, to rid their homes of stagnant water has caught the public imagination. Stagnant fresh water is a breeding ground for the disease-carrying Culex

aegeyti mosquito that spreads dengue, chikungunya and zika fever, and the anopheles mosquito that spreads malaria. These infect and kill several thousand people in India annually. The timing of the campaign is critical as annual outbreaks peak in September and October, following the monsoon. This leads to water collecting in disused objects and unused sites. The most cost-effective way to prevent outbreaks is to stop mosquitoes from breeding, which cannot be left to the health and sanitation department.

At least 3.9 billion people in 128 countries are at risk of dengue. India had 1.01 lakh recorded cases last year. The real number of infections is much higher as most infected people develop mild fever and flu-like symptoms and, in the absence of rash and external bleeding, do not get tested. Sanitation department campaigns have kept dengue cases in Delhi well below 10,000 since the peak of 15,867 cases reported in 2015, even as cases have shot up in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab and West Bengal in the same period. Outbreaks recognise no boundaries. Spending 10 minutes a week to clear our homes and neighbourhood of stagnant water is a small premium to pay for health insurance against dengue, malaria, chikungunya and zika.