Dengue prevention awareness is being carried out very seriously in the Batticaloa District. The number of Dengue patients reported in the recent past is escalating. As per the statistics of the Department of Epidemiology, a total of 1471 Dengue patients were reported from January to March in the year 2018.
A group of participants of RTI for Youth programme conducted by Sri Lanka Press Institute, funded by USAID- Strengthening Democratic Governance and Accountability Project of Sri Lanka filed an RTI application. This was filed in September 2018. Inquiries were made on the nature of awareness programmes that were carried out by the Batticaloa District Health Department in an RTI application.
In response to the RTI application, the Department of Health in Batticaloa stated that they have been working in collaboration with the Municipal Council to bring about public awareness through leaflets, posters, press and television advertisements and that their officials make field visits spreading awareness among the general public.
According to the Department of Health, deaths related to Dengue often occur due to negligence of the public. That is because they do not keep their surroundings clean. The failure to dispose garbage properly which has created multiple mosquito breeding grounds is one of the main issues that has to be dealt with. Measures are underway to cleanup such mosquito breeding sites such as households, buildings and lands of business environments and drains in the Batticaloa District to implement a proper waste removal system.
As per the information given by the Department of Health over five percent that have been diagnosed by Health Inspectors as Dengue patients have been directed to the hospitals for supervised treatments in the month of September 2018.
The Department of Health in Batticaloa believes that the main reason for the increasing number of Dengue patients in the area is due to the lack of awareness of the public as to how to maintain environment(s) properly.Therefore the department has taken measures to carry out a series of awareness programmes such as seminars and door-to-door visits in order to educate people in the area.
The youth who applied mentioned that they felt that the actions taken by the Health officials in the area were inadequate. However through the RTI that was filed they became aware of the large scale awareness programmes that are being run by the officials to control the spread of Dengue. The youth are thankful to RTI awareness they gained and stated that they intend to use RTI in the future as well.
This update was prepared by participants of the Information and Communication Training Workshop conducted by the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) through a grant funded by the United States Agency for International Development through the Strengthening Democratic Governance and Accountability Project Activity.
“The contents of this post are the sole responsibility of SLPI and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.”
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