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Health Ministry spearheading major clean-up day in January

Published:Friday | December 13, 2019 | 9:20 AM
Health and Wellness Minister, Dr Christopher Tufton - Contributed photo

The Ministry of Health and Wellness will be designating a day for a major clean-up exercise in January 2020 to encourage Jamaicans to get rid of solid waste in their surroundings as part of measures by the Government to contain the spread of dengue.

Portfolio Minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, who indicated that the concept would be similar to what obtains on Labour Day, advised that the Ministry is “working with the Labour Day Secretariat, and we are going to be doing that early January”.

He made the announcement while speaking during the monthly meeting of the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) in downtown Kingston recently.

Tufton encouraged Jamaicans to take greater personal responsibility for their surroundings in a bid to eliminate mosquito breeding sites in homes and wider communities.

“The data suggest that most of the breeding sites are actually in and around people’s homes and are placed there by citizens. So solid waste, for example the old refrigerators [and] the drums that [are used to] store water improperly without covers… those have accounted for most of the challenges that people face in and around their homes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tufton advised that the Ministry has purchased 36 additional vehicles to assist with fogging and these will be deployed to support existing apparatus being used.  

He also noted that additional budgetary support has been provided to Members of Parliament; councillors, through the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development; and other key agencies such as the National Solid Waste Management Authority and National Works Agency, to heighten vigilance in combatting the aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits dengue.

- JIS News 

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