‘City-suburb’ strategy to check dengue

A meeting was held at the Ripon Building, which was attended by senior officials of nine town panchayats and three municipalities surrounding the city, to discuss the semi-urban areas – which are turning out to be problem zones. 

A source said, “If an area is urban or rural, we can decide on a strategy for dengue prevention and mosquito menace. But in semi-urban areas, we need to coin a different strategy. 

The first step is sharing information – like presence of fever cases reported from hospitals in these suburbs. Within the city limits, we get the information on fever cases through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP). 

But this is not the case in border areas. 

With information sharing, prompt action can be taken. In addition, many city residents may go to these suburban areas to study or work. These places should be inspected to carry out anti-mosquito measures such as source reduction and fogging.”

The meeting also focussed on domestic checkers, who will span these areas. “In the city, we have domestic checkers spanning the area on a weekly basis. Unless there is a sweeping phenomenon in the adjoining suburbs, it will be a problem. 

The focus was on joint coordinated action between the Corporation and municipalities and town panchayats, including information sharing, domestic checkers, awareness, source reduction and anti-mosquito measures,” the official added. 

On Friday, the civic body conducted a dengue awareness programme for 1,600 students of Jaigopal Garodia Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Choolaimedu.