NOVEMBER 19 ― Last week, the Health Ministry confirmed what has been apparent all year long: there are no new strategies to combat dengue. That is, other than the mosquito-repellent paint the ministry told us about in July, which an official said is awaiting registration with the Pesticides Board.
It is alarming considering 2015 has been quite a year vis-a-vis dengue and 2016 may be worse. The year hasn’t ended, but latest available total number of deaths has far surpassed last year’s tally, which was already the highest in 20 years, according to government statistics going as far back as 1995.
In terms of total number of cases, we are now at 102,217 cases with 282 deaths as of Nov 6, 2015, with under two months to go. In 2014 we saw a total of 108,698 cases and 215 deaths.
To be fair to the ministry, there is no specific medicine or treatment known to cure either dengue or dengue haemorrhagic fever, although fluid replacement therapy works with the latter if detected early enough. There are no vaccines either.
That means prevention is crucial, especially since dengue is endemic to our region ― that means it will never be completely eradicated. There is no end, no moment of triumph when we declare dengue is vanquished for good unless a vaccine is created or dengue-carrying mosquitoes suddenly go extinct.
In this regard the ministry has done a number of things. There are television advertisements warning of the danger of allowing breeding grounds of Aedes mosquitoes in or around our homes, for example.
Construction sites found harbouring Aedes breeding grounds have also been fined in multiple instances, according to past news reports. The latest effort was a large-scale clean-up across all the nation bar Johor and Malacca on November 8, covering 15 known dengue hotspots, reported Bernama.
While a step in the right direction, the gotong-royong may be too little too late given the number of cases and deaths in 2015 so far. The argument can be made that it should have come much earlier in the year considering year 2014, with a sharp increase in cases and deaths to hit a two-decade high, should have been our wake-up call.
But hindsight is only beneficial here in terms of the lessons we can take with us going forward. Looking ahead, the way forward is clear: we need to keep working hard at prevention.
And that means unrelenting persistence in spurring action from people to combat dengue. The World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines backs this: it says preventing dengue hinges on controlling its vector which is the Aedes mosquito.
The ministry, of course, has been doing this. But going on 2015 statistics, status quo or carrying on with “usual efforts”, as the ministry of health’s Disease Control Division director Dr Chong Chee Kheong stated, is clearly insufficient.
Because it is one thing to try and raise awareness about dengue risks, but quite another to get people, and businesses, to care enough to do something about it. This may require newer, innovative strategies on the ministry’s part as well as roping in communities and non-government organisations (NGOs).
More gotong-royongs would be a positive step forward, as would harsher penalties against those found harbouring Aedes breeding grounds.
In other words, it’s back to the basics in the fight against dengue. But we need to do it better.
*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
