Comprehensive program in Wayamba to arrest dengue threat

by S.M. Wijayaratne, Kurunegala Cor.

All school heads in Kurunegala and Puttalam Districts have been instructed by the NWP Education Department to organise Shramadana campaigns on January 05, 2015 to destroy mosquito breeding grounds in school premises.

Parents, past pupils, students and teachers have to assist this project voluntarily as mosquito-related diseases in the NWP have spread at an alarming rate. During this year, approximately, 2,500 positive Dengue patients have been detected from various parts of the NWP and more than 200 of them were reported to be students. Over 1,400 health officials have been deployed to educate residents of the NWP over fatal mosquito-related diseases such as, Dengue, Malaria, Japanese Encephalitis and Filaria.

Meanwhile, all Divisional Secretaries in the NWP have been instructed by the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs to give priority in eradicating mosquito-breeding grounds in premises of all local bodies in Kurunegala and Puttalam districts. Rs. 200 million would be allocated to launch programs on Dengue eradication next year by the government, said former Divisional Secretary for Bingiriya W.E. Jayathilake recently at a meeting in Kurunegala.