Dengue on the rise in Colombo

2013-05-06 Due to the failure of the general public to keep their residential and work places clean, dengue is on the rise once again, andhas registered a 20% increase within the Colombo Municipal limits during the first quarter of this year. City of Colombo had 1,004 dengue cases by 30 April with two deaths reported last week.    The Chief Medical Officer of Health, Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam, told Ceylon Today last year too saw an increase of dengue cases within the Municipal limits. Despite the many public awareness campaigns carried out by the CMC, the vast majority of the city populace do not show enough sensitivity to this perennial problem, which seems to grow year in and out. "Most people do not care for the beauty and worst for their own health when they litter abandoned lands and vacant areas. These ultimately turn out to be the breeding grounds for mosquitoes. "Compounding the problem, the CMC is faced with a manpower shortage in continuing with the eradication of mosquito breeding grounds. On top of that the volunteers who assisted the CMC in its mosquito eradicating campaigns are also on the wane. People show concern for the dengue issue by fits and starts. When a person in the vicinity dies of dengue, the whole locality gets into a frenzy of cleaning the environs for some time. Then they conveniently forget about their social and personal responsibilities and get involved in their work, which they presume to be more important than cleaning the vicinity," Kariyawasam said. "If people do not show interest to keep their living spaces clean, no amount of work or public awareness campaigns conducted by the CMC or for that matter any other health regulating agency can be of benefit to the society," he added. (AG)