The Indian Express              17.07.2013

BMC’s ‘dengue-proof your house’ drive to cover 90,000 societies

BMC's Additional Municipal Commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar said, "We have trained 100 volunteers to spread awareness and carry posters in the city. They will conduct programmes in various housing societies."

Dengue mosquito or Aedes aegypti has a limited flying range of 50 metres but even then has the ability to breed extensively.

Similar to the 'fight the bite' drive against mosquitoes, which was launched in 2012 to curb the rising cases of malaria, this campaign will focus on educating societies to dengue-proof their homes. It will cover over 90,000 housing societies in the city.

"This year, we will also approach highrises as there are chances of dengue mosquitoes breeding there too. The perception that aedes breeds only in open spaces is wrong. It can breed in any domestic place," said Dr Mangala Gomare, chief of epidemiology cell in BMC.

The next step of the campaign will be to double the volunteers by bringing in colleges students and TISS students. "We will also show PowerPoint presentations to societies to educate them about the disease," Mhaiskar said.

According to BMC's public health department, other than dengue, cases of gastroenteritis and typhoid have increased slightly compared to last year. So far, 1,390 and 57 cases have been registered this year respectively as opposed to 1,652 and 60 cases recorded at the end of monsoon last year.

"Although there is a rise in gastroenteritis and typhoid cases, malaria and fever cases have gone down. This year, only 501 cases of malaria were recorded, while last year we had 1,485. 'Fight the bite' campaign helped us curb the disease to a large extent," added Mhaiskar.

Till now, 16 cases of cholera have been recorded as opposed to none last year, and no cases of H1N1 have been reported in the city so far.