West begins Chik V clean-up, yet to get government funds
Published:Tuesday | October 28, 2014 | 4:14 PMBarrington Flemming
WESTERN BUREAU:
WHILE THEY are yet to get the promise funding from Government, three parishes in western Jamaica have started their anti-chikungunya virus clean-up campaign, utilising the biographic indices (reports showing areas with greatest risk), which was prepared by the respective health departments.
Following a recent meeting with all mayors, the Government announced that the Ministry of Local Government would give money to each council to help drive their clean-up effort.
Wynter McIntosh, mayor of Lucea, a town which recently came under much criticism for its unsightly state, said the clean-up effort in the town started on Saturday and was progressing well.
?We had a clean-up day in Lucea on Saturday in conjunction with the National Solid Waste Management Authority and other agencies and it was a success,? McIntosh said. ?This was just the first phase of the effort because we are acting on the instructions of the health department, which has identified 28 possible high-risk areas in the parish, so our emphasis will be on those areas.?
McIntosh said while the second phase of the programme is slated to get under way in two weeks, the drains in the town and areas such as Malcolm Heights, Johnson Town and Prosper have been cleaned. He further noted that some schools and churches should begin their clean-up activities tomorrow.
?We have identified workmen who will continue to clean and maintain the drains, so we don?t have a recurrence of what prevailed here before,? McIntosh said.
Mayor of Falmouth Garth Wilkinson said the Trelawny Parish Council has created a work programme for the parish, driven by the identification of 20 key areas by the health department.
?The health department has done a biographic index for the parish and we have used that to inform our way forward,? said Wilkinson. ?We have ensured that all drains in the town of Falmouth are clean. In addition, fogging and spraying to kill the adult mosquitoes and treating sites with larvae are also integral.
?Each of the nine councillors has been given $200,000 to spearhead clean-up efforts in their divisions,? Wilkinson added.
In Montego Bay, Mayor Glendon Harris said the parish?s programme began on Tuesday in Greens, a community adjacent to Norwood. He said they started in Greens based on instructions from the St James Health Department.
In Westmoreland, Mayor of Savanna-la-Mar Bertel Moore said while they have not officially started their clean-up campaign, a meeting involving major stakeholders in the parish was to take place yesterday to finalise plans for the clean-up.