Vardhan seeks active community participation to prevent vector-borne diseases

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday sought active community participation for the prevention and control of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and chikungunya in the city, which he said was "critical to stop the chain of vector transmission".

Vardhan, who chaired a high-level meeting through video conferencing to review Delhi's preparedness for the prevention and control of vector-borne diseases, urged citizens to volunteer in for checking the breeding sites themselves in their surroundings, a Health Ministry statement said.

"All the citizens need to rise to the occasion and don the role of a super hero themselves and become 'Swasthya Veer' for combating the vector-borne diseases themselves while fighting against COVID-19," the statement quoted Vardhan as saying.

During a presentation in the meeting, it was highlighted that dengue cases start in the month of July, spike in October and ebb down in November and December.

Officials also highlighted effective strategies to combat vector-borne diseases (VBDs) and action plan requiring inter-sectoral coordination involving the state government, municipal corporations, the statement said.

Vardhan urged all stakeholders to undertake awareness drives through active community participation and cooperation of all stakeholders such as resident welfare association, associations of shopkeepers/traders while considering all the precautionary measures being taken against COVID-19.

"Among the specific target-oriented modified strategies that need to be put in place for combating malaria, dengue and chikungunya, our main focus should be on controlling the vector itself," he said.

"Stagnant water should be checked and larva sites should be effectively neutralised. Success of the Vector Control Programme is related to community participation and ownership," Vardhan stressed.

The Union health minister further said the vector-borne disease problem is perennial and this year it has come at the time when the whole country is grappling with the COVID-19 outbreak, the statement stated.

There was a severe outbreak of dengue in Delhi in 2015, which affected nearly 16,000 people and killed 60. As compared to that situation, we are in a better position presently as around 50 dengue cases have been reported so far in the city, Vardhan recalled.

"However, we cannot afford to be complacent in our approach in our fight against dengue," he said.

"Community support is critical to stop the chain of vector transmission. There is a need to promote awareness among the community about the prevention and control of VBDs," he said.

Commenting on the commendable role played by schoolchildren in the previous years in creating awareness about VBDs, he said, "Earlier, schoolchildren played a very important role in creating awareness. But in the present scenario where all educational institutions, colleges and schools are closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, most of the schoolchildren are at home."

Exhorting people to come forward, he said, "During this lockdown, everyone should chip in to keep their surroundings clean and see that stagnant water is not accumulated in the trash or in used tyres, flower pots, vases, coolers."

Vardhan suggested that malaria should be made a notifiable disease.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain, who also participated in the meeting, assured that the same would be done immediately. It was also suggested that all hospitals, including the private ones, should work in synergy for VBDs to ensure that government and private interventions and efforts to prevent/cure these diseases, are in tandem.

Vardhan urged all the representatives from the central government hospitals not to neglect the cases of VBDs as there is no vaccine available and only through preventive measures, the fight can be fought successfully.

He further said the government is duty-bound to provide all logistical and technical support to the Delhi government in terms of surveillance and diagnostic kits to strengthen their preparations.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal was also present in the meeting.