The Hindu    18.08.2012

Door-to-door campaign to combat dengue

It was ‘business unusual’ for 200 students from three
colleges who were on a door-to-door-campaign distributing pamphlets and
explaining to residents about preventive measures against dengue in 60
wards.

In an effort to create awareness among people
about measures to prevent dengue outbreak, health officials from City
Municipal Corporation have brought in NSS students from Salem Sowdeswari
College, Jairam Arts and Science College and Vysya College.

The
week-long campaign from August 13 to 18 saw students visiting houses
and explaining to people about the breeding of Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes
that spread dengue fever, and measures to prevent dengue.

Students
inspected cement tanks, pots, tin and plastic containers, tyres,
grinding stones, coconut shells, coolers and flower vases, and removed
stagnant water. Health officials also poured ‘pyrithrim’, a medicine
used to destroy the mosquito larvae, into the water storage containers.

Officials

Students
and health officials on Friday visited Devangapuram Street, near
Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital, and
carried out anti-larval operations.

Residents
complained that the drain that carried sewage from the hospital and
waste water from the post-mortem examination section had not been
cleaned in eight years.

They also complained that due
to clogged drains, sewage water enters their houses and the situation
is worse during rainy seasons. Sanitary workers asked people not to dump
solid waste and plastic bags in drains that lead to clogging.

Health
officials pointed out the measures taken to prevent dengue outbreak
like administering dengue eradication pledge in schools during prayers,
training students to identify the mosquitoes in their houses and
carrying out anti-larval operations and fogging operations by sanitary
workers.

Corporation officials also said that an awareness rally about dengue prevention methods would also be carried out soon.