COMMUNITY BASED DENGUE PREVENTION AND CONTROL PROGRAMME
A sharp increase in the number of Dengue patients has been recorded in the Western Province during the past few months. This warranted regular checking and the destruction of possible mosquito breeding sites in the high risk areas, in the districts of Colombo, Kaluthara and Gampaha.
Therefore, a three day special Dengue prevention and control programme in selected high-risk areas of the Western Province was jointly conducted by the National Dengue Control Unit - Ministry of Health with the support of Tri Services, Police and the Civil Defence Department from 28th to 30th January 2016.
This was the second such programme conducted in the Western Province during this year to intensify Dengue prevention and control activities, since the situation is precarious.
During the last programme over 59500 premises were inspected and 8818 premises had been identified as potential mosquitoes breeding sites. As a corrective measure, 2120 special notices were issued for the owners of the recognized premises and legal action was taken against 303 persons, under Section 262 of the Penal Code.
In this continuous endeavour to eradicate the Dengue epidemic in Sri Lanka, the Office of the Chief of the Defence Staff has played a leading role in coordinating the Tri Services, Police and the Civil Defence Department.
Identifying and removing of places that are conducive for the breeding of Dengue mosquitoes would contribute immensely for the reduction of the disease. The next Dengue prevention and control programme will take place during the second week of February this year.
