<p>The government has decided to prepare an action plan within the next three-four months to tackle these diseases, Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar told PTI.<br /><br />Under the action plan, the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare and Science and Technology will work together for the programme to develop vaccines for these mostly communicable diseases.<br /><br />The decision to focus on development of vaccines and other remedial actions comes against the backdrop of widespread fear created by dengue in the run-up to the October Commonwealth Games in Delhi.<br /><br />It has been noted that the cases of dengue were higher this year, Chandrasekhar said while explaining the reasons for the government action.<br /><br />Also, chikungunya, which earlier used to be seen in some coastal areas, was also seen to have spread over to other places, including Delhi, he noted.<br /><br />The country has so far reported 15,535 cases of dengue out of which 96 turned fatal.<br />Chikungunya has been majorly reported in the national capital, which has reported 33 cases so far.<br /><br />Hosted by pigs and wading birds and transmitted by mosquitoes, the virus that causes Japanese Encephalitis mainly strikes poor rural communities.<br /><br />The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that JE claims 10,000 to 15,000 lives a year. But because awareness is low and the disease is tough to diagnose, these figures may be gross underestimates.<br /><br />The government has already initiated a vaccination campaign against the disease and expects to immunise a total of 100 million by the end of 2010.</p>
<p>The government has decided to prepare an action plan within the next three-four months to tackle these diseases, Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar told PTI.<br /><br />Under the action plan, the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare and Science and Technology will work together for the programme to develop vaccines for these mostly communicable diseases.<br /><br />The decision to focus on development of vaccines and other remedial actions comes against the backdrop of widespread fear created by dengue in the run-up to the October Commonwealth Games in Delhi.<br /><br />It has been noted that the cases of dengue were higher this year, Chandrasekhar said while explaining the reasons for the government action.<br /><br />Also, chikungunya, which earlier used to be seen in some coastal areas, was also seen to have spread over to other places, including Delhi, he noted.<br /><br />The country has so far reported 15,535 cases of dengue out of which 96 turned fatal.<br />Chikungunya has been majorly reported in the national capital, which has reported 33 cases so far.<br /><br />Hosted by pigs and wading birds and transmitted by mosquitoes, the virus that causes Japanese Encephalitis mainly strikes poor rural communities.<br /><br />The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that JE claims 10,000 to 15,000 lives a year. But because awareness is low and the disease is tough to diagnose, these figures may be gross underestimates.<br /><br />The government has already initiated a vaccination campaign against the disease and expects to immunise a total of 100 million by the end of 2010.</p>