WRHA getting proactive in dengue fever fight
Published:Friday | January 4, 2019 | 12:00 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) is ramping up its public education and sensitisation campaign to fortify western Jamaica against the spread of dengue fever, which the Ministry of Health says has reached epidemic levels with 800 cases reported in 2018.
Errol Greene, the WRHA's regional director, told The Gleaner yesterday that his organisation is continuing preventive work which it began last March, to include fogging and identification of breeding sites for the Aedes Aegypti mosquito which transmits the dengue virus.
"From last March and April, we had put plans in place to sensitise persons, to identify breeding sites and to do fogging, and we had an army of young people sent out to every community within the region to do sensitisation. The project would have come to an end around November, but we have approval from the health ministry to continue the programme, so it continues now," said Greene.
"We also have the Aedes Aegypti index, which was developed by the Pan-American Health Organisation and the World Health Organization to measure the growth of the mosquito and the spread of mosquito activities. We monitor the index on a weekly basis to see how we're doing and to see whether or not we need to step up our activities."
Greene noted that health officials would be visiting Westmoreland, which was identified by the ministry as being among the most high-risk parishes.
"The health minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, is expected in Westmoreland today (yesterday), and we're going to tweak the plans for Westmoreland and go out into the communities to do some more sensitisation," said Greene.
Additionally, representatives from the WRHA had yesterday joined their counterparts in Kingston to discuss strategies for preventing a further spread of the dengue virus.
The health ministry has pumped J$250 million into response efforts to combat the outbreak of dengue fever. Last December, 123 cases of the disease were reported in Jamaica, surpassing the outbreak threshold of 96 cases.