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Health Ministry procures millions in equipment to bolster vector control fight
As the threat of the Chikungunya virus continues to spread through the Caribbean and South America, the local Ministry of Health is taking every possible precaution to guard the population against its debilitating effects. In fact, some $20 million has been expended by the Ministry through its Vector Control Services Department to acquire equipment to undertake intensified fogging activities.
For the past few weeks the Vector Control Services Department has been strategically dispatching technical teams into the field to fog. Just last evening a team was seen preparing at the Square of the Revolution to take on the task of exterminating mosquito vectors in sections of the city.The team, decked in protective gear, was dispatched by Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran and Vector Control Services Director, Dr. Reyaud Rahman.
Vector Control workers preparing to undertake fogging activities yesterday.
Even as he noted that the fogging exercise is a continuing process, the Health Minister pointed out that the vector control fight in the city is currently being done by staffers who are well trained to properly utilise the new and modern equipment that have been procured. These workers, according to him, are trained to fight diseases that are spread mainly by mosquito vectors. “As you know Guyana is a malarias country but we have been able to drive malaria from the Coast and we still have to be vigilant; we have to fight against dengue and other vector borne diseases,” said the Minister.
Recent reports of the Chikungunya Virus, spread by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito which also transmits dengue fever, have caused precautionary measures to be augmented by the Health Ministry, even as moves are made to closely monitor Ports of Entry.
But according to Dr. Ramsaran, “vector control is everybody’s business; we are appealing to people to play their part. We are asking you to remove items that can be receptacles for water which are not needed in your back yards, on your parapets (and) in your drains because that water can accumulate and become stagnant and create breeding conditions for mosquitoes and then those mosquitoes can then become the vector for diseases.”
Added to this, the Minister said that moves are being made to encourage awareness through the promotion of health literacy, advocacy and health education.
Aside from undertaking the fogging exercises, Dr. Rahman said that the Vector Control Department has been seeking to enlighten the public of its ongoing activities even as he pointed out that “this is going to be an ongoing cycle as long as is necessary.”
“We are going to be taking our fogging machines into communities; we are going to try to decrease the mosquito population basically, so we are going to try to get less than we have at the moment,” Dr. Rahman said.
The intent, according to him, is to decrease the adult mosquito population even as he reiterated the need for the public to help as much as possible by keeping their yard groomed and ensure that breeding sites for larva are removed. And according to him, “we are going to be going mostly south of the country because we have most of the affected population in that area…however we expect to cover most of Region Four and we are doing this in a systematic way.”
Dr. Rahman further assured that the fogging activities do not in any way represent a threat to residents or animals in the communities since the insecticide used is only harmful to the vectors. He advised too that it would be wise for persons to open their windows and allow the fogging mists to pass through building structures even as he highlight the need for all potable water sources to be properly covered ahead of the commencement of fogging.
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