National Vector Control Unit intensifies efforts to keep dengue at bay

Mar 19, 2013 News

With a young and vibrant Dr Reyaud Rahman at its helm, the Vector Control Services Department of the Ministry of Health has been taking a proactive approach to fulfill its mandate. This is certainly true for the approach being used to tackle all vectors, including those related to dengue.

Director of Vector Control Services, Dr Reyaud Rahman

According to Dr Rahman, while the Ministry has been receiving reported cases of dengue the disease has not surged to any alarming proportions.
And in the quest to ensure that this remains the case, the Director of Vector Control Services, disclosed that efforts are being made to hire more personnel, a move he insists is currently essential.
“We are in the process of hiring more people so that we can cover more areas to do vector control work. We have also tried to get more information education and communications materials to distribute to persons so that people can get better educated about how they can protect themselves too,” said Dr Rahman.
The female of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito is known to spread the very painful and debilitating dengue fever.
The Ministry of Health has in place an Aedes Aegypti fighting arm of its vector control unit. The officers within this unit, according to Dr Rahman, are actively involved in field activities and would usually intensify visitations to areas where there are increased reports of mosquitoes.
“They would go check yards and see if people have open tanks and even see if there are any places that are not cleaned…they basically sort of give you notice on those things and try to correct them,” informed the Director.
Fogging is done by the Unit, an activity which is usually done in the capital city collaboration with the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown. But according to Dr Rahman although at the moment the City Council is not fully doing its part “we have done some fogging on the Coast and as far as Diamond and even further in some cases.”
However, this undertaking, he disclosed will be scaled up. Efforts will be made to shorten the fogging cycles. “If we did it every six months we will now cut it down to every three months.”
This practice, he noted though, cannot be excessively done since “we cannot over-do certain things based on the fact that mosquitoes or anything else would develop some sort of resistance…so we have to be very careful of what we are doing and how we are doing it.”
According to Dr Rahman, the Ministry has for a number of years been utilising a safe and World Health Organisation-approved insecticide — Malathion — to carry out fogging. Although there are some concerns about the insecticide, he insisted that “once everything is done correctly there is no threat…like everything if you don’t do it right you will encounter problems and we haven’t had any recorded issues,” he noted.
All these measures are being engaged Dr Rahman said as part of the Health Ministry’s efforts to assure the public that the Ministry is on top of any potential dengue threat as it would for any other vector threat.
He said that members of the public can expect to see a very visible presence of vector control workers areas across the country, particularly those that maybe considered under threat.