NEW DELHI: As India continues fighting against dengue, a survey has found that one in four families has fallen ill in the last three years due to mosquito-borne diseases and depends on mosquito repellents as civic bodies have been failing to conduct fogging.
The survey conducted by LocalCircles, a community social media platform, on 58,000 people in 327 districts, said that 73 per cent of people claimed that municipal corporations in their cities did not actively work in the past few years to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, even during the monsoon season.
Till October 17, India has reported 94,198 dengue cases and 91 deaths, as per the government data. Kerala has reported the highest number of cases at 9,770 and 37 deaths. Very few cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, have undertaken proactive fogging measures, according to the study.
“About 28 per cent of the respondents stated that they or someone in their family fell ill due to mosquito-borne diseases in the last three years,” the study said. The data showed that 19 per cent of respondents had “multiple family members” falling ill due to vector-borne diseases, while 9 per cent stated that “one of them” fell sick during the last three years.
“The mosquito menace issue persists in India every year, and yet little is done proactively by local civic bodies to deal with it proactively,” said Sachin Taparia, founder of LocalCircles. While many states have reported dengue cases varying from 1,000 to 10,000, several cases are still going unreported as most people resort to home remedies to recover in 7-10 days, the study said. Similarly, cases of Malaria and Chikungunya have also seen a rise in recent months.
