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Collaboration – an important aspect of vector control says Director
Although vector control in Guyana is easily a multi-million-dollar undertaking, there would be no success realised without collaboration.
This notion was recently amplified by Director of Vector Control Services, Dr Reyaud Rahman, who related that strategic moves are continually made to collaborate with a number of entities including the Environmental Health Unit of the Ministry of Health, the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown, among others.
Vector Control Director, Dr Reyaud Rahman
“Vector control services can do as much work as we want to do and even accomplish all of our targets, but if we are not able to get support we will always be at zero,” said Dr Rahman. “Support really needs to be seen as important because we are basically going to be left at square one, so that is why we need all the help we can get.”
And it is of immense importance, the Vector Control Director said, that support is garnered from members of the public as well.
“Everybody needs to get on board and get involved in a sort of stamp-it-out approach.”
The vector control focus here in Guyana is mainly on malaria and dengue, but according to Dr Rahman there are also cases of Chagas, Leishmaniasis, Filariasis and Leptospirosis. While malaria cases are found in the thousands and dengue in the hundreds, the other vector transmitted diseases seen are much fewer.
Nevertheless, combating these vectors, Dr Rahman disclosed, could prove to be a rather difficult task when the population does not adhere to rules and regulations. He pointed to the culture of some people to litter indiscriminately, a practice that is particularly evident in the capital city.
“Some persons’ yards are dirty; there is a lot of stagnant water and all sorts of receptacles around with water and no effort is made to get rid of these.
“Things like these make it very difficult for us because the vectors are allowed to thrive in these conditions. Regardless of how much work we do, if the public does not buy-in and help us, we are going to go nowhere in our vector control fight,” asserted Dr Rahman.
He is convinced that if the ideal structures are put in place where adequate personnel is complemented by needful collaborations, Guyana will be better poised to reduce further all cases of vector borne diseases.
He said that work in this regard during the past year was able to realise a notable reduction in malaria.
However, vector control is a facet of health care that must be ongoing whether there is an outbreak or not.
“If you do not continue to fight vectors you end up in a situation basically where the vectors multiply, and multiply very quickly and can overwhelm all your efforts…
“Even if you may have complete control of them, you need to continue to do this activity over and over in a cyclic manner,” Dr Rahman explained.
He noted that funding towards this programme has always been enormous. Although the vector control fight attracts a large chunk of the annual budgetary allocation to the Health Ministry, Dr Rahman disclosed that funding from donor agencies such as the Global Fund does not go untouched.
“If you look at treatment alone for malaria, for instance, it could cost at the least US$50 and if you add the treated bed nets and other aspects of tackling this disease it amounts to a great amount,” added Dr Rahman, who is convinced that without sustained support the needful vector control fight, will be in vain.
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