JTA boss wants more effort in dengue fight

WESTERN BUREAU:

Owen Speid, the outspoken president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), is calling on the government and local organisations to move swiftly to address the ongoing dengue crisis in Jamaica, which has claimed 64 lives over the past 12 months.Speid made the call while delivering the keynote address at last Thursday’s installation of officers for the past students’ association of the Anchovy High School in St James.“We have to applaud the effort of the Government and the Ministry of Health, who have put on a national dengue clean-up day, but I think more organisations and associations should come on board with leading the charge to clean up Jamaica and get rid of the mosquito-breeding sites across the island. It’s not a good thing that we’re having so many of our children dying from dengue,” said Speid.“When the children die, it puts a strain on us at school because we don’t have the necessary manpower to handle the trauma and the human resources are lacking in the schools. When children lose their siblings and then come to school, we have to be the counsellors for these children, and this puts a lot of pressure on the system,” added Speid.Over the past 12 months, Jamaica has had 64 confirmed or suspected dengue-related deaths, out of the 9,356 dengue notifications recorded between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2019. Children ages five to 14 have accounted for the highest rate of dengue cases, followed by children ages one to four.During a post- cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House last Wednesday, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton revealed that hospital admissions due to the mosquito-borne virus cost the government an average of $213,362.94 per child.Commenting further on the impact of dengue on the education sector, Speid said that a sense of fear is gripping students and teachers alike.“I don’t know if we can totally eradicate dengue, but at this time it is really a cause for concern, because when we lose our children like that, it puts a strain on the teachers to go out there and face the students. It is driving fear into each and every one of us because we don’t know who might be next (to contract dengue),” said Speid.