PUDUCHERRY:With the threat of mosquito borne diseases looming large in the backdrop of intermittent rains, the government is constituting a task force committee to address the menace of mosquito-borne diseases, primarily Dengue.
It would comprise officials from the departments of Health, Local Administration, PWD, Pondicherry Pollution Control Committee (PPCC), Vector Control Research Centre (VCRC) and members of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). The committee’s mandate is to chalk out measures and work in tandem with the public at large.
The Self Help Groups (SHGs) involved will be visiting homes to inspect domestic and semi-domestic areas to look for presence of mosquito breeding environs. If found, the concerned household member will be educated to remove them, Dr Kalimuthu, Mission Director, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) said. Involvement of people is required without which it cannot be controlled, he added. In addition, constituency wise - Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities are currently on to create awareness about the diseases to ensure its prevention.
As per a vector surveillance for Dengue done by VCRC,the awareness levels with regard to mosquito breeding and prevention was found to be 80 per cent. Yet only 30 per cent of residents work towards prevention of Dengue vector breeding, said Gunasekharan, Scientist, VCRC. Around 26 per cent kept the dry containers either closed or upside down to prevent water storage.
The highest presence of Aedes larvae (which causes Dengue) was recorded in discarded tyres (24.6 per cent), followed by grinding stones (16.4 per cent) and some significant breeding in earthen pots (5.6 per cent) and cement tanks (4.8 per cent).
Worn out tyres of two-wheelers or four-wheelers are not discarded, but kept in court yards or terraces leading to water accumulation. Plastic cups are also a major source of breeding.
Until October, 193 cases of Dengue have been reported as compared to 305 cases that were reported last year till October 2014, Director Health and Family Welfare, Dr K V Raman told Express.
A decade back a similar task force committee was constituted to control particularly Malaria and Filaria which led to reduction in the vector density and diseases, said S Hemachandran, former Secretary, who heades the task force. Endemic areas were identified and teams comprising personnel from all the line departments were constituted zonewise, which implemented various measures recommended by the committee at the ground level with official supervision, he said.
Filaria has been eradicated with no new cases of filaria in the last three years, health authorities have claimed.