Govt prioritising formation of sustainable outline to prevent Dengue

The interim government in its maiden 100 days has given utmost priority to find out ways to prevent the spread of dengue disease.   

It has finalised the draft of the National Dengue Prevention and Control Strategy (2024-2030) as the vector-borne disease continues infecting people in the country.

"The draft of the National Dengue Prevention and Control Strategy (2024-2030) has been finalised, which is awaiting final approval," said a progress report on the works of different ministries and divisions.

About the government's measures taken to prevent dengue outbreaks, the report said the government has allocated Tk1 crore to conduct an entomological survey on the dengue virus, and a committee has already been formed to this end.

As part of its ongoing effort, the government has already formed two expert committees at Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), which have been entrusted with submitting a research-based outline to combat mosquito-borne disease.  

The government formed the two expert committees in DSCC and DNCC as part of its special measures to strengthen prevention activities to contain the dengue outbreak across the country.

"We are taking research-based programmes like the developed countries as part of the long-term plan to check Dengue outbreak," said former LGRD and Cooperatives Adviser AF Hassan Arif.

He said they have taken measures to prevent the increasing number of Dengue cases giving utmost importance to treatment and creating awareness.

As part of creating awareness on dengue infections, the Risk Communication and Community Engagement platform was established, he added.

In addition, Dengue corners have been set up at all medical colleges and hospitals across the country, while necessary medicines and equipment were supplied to and dengue test facilities were established in the hospitals.

This year, the total number of cases rose to 76,021 while 372 deaths from dengue disease were reported during the period till November 13, said a statement from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Last year, the country recorded 1,705 dengue-related deaths and a total of 3,21,179 dengue cases.

A six-member expert committee formed at the DSCC has been working to devise plans to fight the city's dengue menaces in effective ways.

The committee held its maiden meeting around four and a half weeks back and the experts were asked to place short-term and long-term plans to the DSCC, DSCC Chief Health Officer (in-charge) Dr Fazle Shamsul Kabir told BSS.

DSCC has been working to formulate short-term and long-term plans to check Dengue against the backdrop of a rise in the mosquito-borne disease.

"We are working to prepare two separate short and long-term plans to effectively fight the Dengue menace," Dhaka South City Corporation," said Shamsul.

"After reviewing the short- and long-term plans, we will take elaborate programmes to prevent dengue," he said.

He said the measures taken by them -- alongside conducting regular anti-mosquito drives under the DNCC areas by its 1050 workers -- would bring down the rate of infection by three to four percent a week.

The other five members of the DSCC expert committee are DSCC Administrator (Additional Secretary) Md Nazrul Islam, Dhaka University (DU) Zoology Department Prof Dr Mohammad Firoz Alam, Chairman of the Department Prof Dr Shefali Begum, Medical Entomologist of DU Dr Tanjin Akter and DNCC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Md Mizanur Rahman.

Another six-member expert team has also been formed at Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) to work on how to prevent Dengue in the areas under its jurisdiction.

Led by DNCC administrator Md Mahmudul Hasan, the other members of the expert committee are: Dr Md Rashedul Islam, Chairman of the Entomology Department, Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture University, Prof Dr Golam Sarwar, Divisional Head of the National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM), Md Rezaul Karim, Entomologist, Chief Health Officer Brig. General Imru-al-Quais and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mir Khairul Alam.

Talking to BSS Md Mahmudul Hasan, administrator of DNCC said, "The expert committee held its first meeting around two and a half weeks ago and we've got some suggestions from them to combat dengue more effectively. We want to use their expertise in finding an effective solution to dengue menace."

He said the experts have already recommended ensuring the use of standard and perfect doses of insecticides alongside conducting a separate survey on mosquito-borne diseases along with the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Mahmudul said that they have been continuing their regular larviciding and adulticiding operations under the DNCC area two times daily to prevent dengue disease.