Dengue eradication drive

Leading Consumer Healthcare Company GlaxoSmithKline, through its flagship brand Panadol, announced a long-term commitment to eradicate dengue in Sri Lanka, which has recorded over 18,452 cases islandwide since January this year. Titled the ‘Panadol Sahana Balakaya’, the program is a dengue eradication drive aimed at finding a permanent solution to eradicate dengue from Sri Lanka with the support of like minded partners. With a population of 700,000 and an estimated 600,000 people travelling in and out of the city of Colombo daily, the Panadol ‘Sahana Balakaya’, will initially focus on the eradication of dengue in the country’s most populous city in partnership with the Colombo Municipal Council and Rotary District 3220 - Sri Lanka, a non profit organization dedicated towards community service.

Managing Director of GlaxoSmithKline Sachi Thomas said, “We as a healthcare company aim to promote health and well-being in the country. Dengue has affected Sri Lanka for many years and today, it has reached epidemic proportions. As a trusted brand in Sri Lanka for over four decades Panadol believes in supporting the nation’s present health priority of dengue eradication. However a single entity cannot achieve this ambitious goal, we are proud to partner with the Colombo Municipality and Rotary District 3220 - Sri Lanka, to educate communities, to clean our environment and importantly and eventually create dengue free zones through a behavioral change.”With an initial commitment to supply much needed equipment to the Colombo Municipal Council and sponsor a clean up drive targeting 27 schools and all premises within a radius of 200 meters of these schools in highly populated areas in Colombo, the `Panadol Sahana Balakaya’ is a collective effort by both the state and private sector to control the spread of Dengue in high risk areas of Colombo.

Chief Medical Officer of the Colombo Municipality, Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam said, “In the year 2005 we had a very good dengue control program targeting schoolchildren who are usually more prone to this disease. This effort helped us to reduce the infection rate among the school attending population by 60% with an overall decrease of 40% among all age categories. The aim of this latest effort is also the same and we hope to achieve results in the next few weeks.” The District Governor 2009/10 of Rotary District 3220 – Sri Lanka, Rtn. PHF Suri Rajan commenting said “Rotary always believes that it is important to be proactive in matters of community service to make a difference and assist thousands towards better living standards with particular emphasis on clean water, effective sanitation, good health, medical facilities and improvement of education for our children.