BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has directed Collectors of eight districts to mobilise CSR funds for prevention and control of malaria and other mosquito borne diseases like dengue and Japanese Encephalitis (JE).
The Collectors of Angul, Balasore, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Sambalpur and Sundargarh districts having strong presence of industrial houses were asked to mobilise additional resources to combat vector borne diseases.
Except Jagatsinghpur, other seven districts are vulnerable to malaria as well as for dengue and JE due to inaccessible forest fringed remote areas which need close monitoring and supervision. Urban and semi urban areas also require high attention for prevention of dengue. A health official said the district chiefs have been asked to take steps for adoption of periphery villages by industrial houses which will be provided all technical support from the district health system for prevention of the diseases.
‘’They will form a designated team and volunteers under a nodal officer to liaison with district health machinery and initiate process for procurement of equipment like portable thermal fogging machines, Knapsack sprayers and stirrup pumps,’’ he said.
The Collectors can also divert a portion of CSR fund for impregnation of community bed nets by deltamethrin where Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) are not provided. They will introduce a supervision mechanism and monitor to ensure that residents are using LLINs where these are distributed.
Instructions have also been issued to panchayats and urban local bodies for elimination of mosquito breeding sites in the catchment areas during transmission season (June to October).
They would take steps to release larvivorous fish in potential mosquito breeding water bodies. They can have fish hatcheries for rearing of larvivorous fish.The districts have been asked to put up hoardings and posters with messages for prevention and control of vector borne diseases.