October 13, 2012
CHENNAI: Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has urged school managements to give students, particularly boys, full pants and shirts to prevent themselves from being exposed to dengue-mosquito.
Mosquito sucking blood
October 13, 2012
CHENNAI: Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has urged school managements to give students, particularly boys, full pants and shirts to prevent themselves from being exposed to dengue-mosquito.
Mosquito sucking blood
The number of dengue cases in the country has increased this year and most victims of the vector-borne diseases are school students, he said.
Dengue is transmitted by the bite of an AedesAegypti mosquito, which breads in clean-water, mostly man-made containers. The mosquito draws blood only during the day, it's peak biting periods are first two hours of dawn and last two hours of dusk. But the mosquito bites several people during each feeding period. School children, Azad said, were more "susceptible" to the mosquito bite as they were shorts and half-sleeve shirts to school. "At least for the next two-three months, schools should be advised to tell parents to see that their children are fully dressed. We are advising states to tell their education ministers to make such decisions," he said.
Azad was in Chennai to speak to the health ministers and secretaries of southern states on prevention and management of dengue. It's not a panic situation, but we want ensure we take adequate prevention measure. States will be allowed to use funding from NRHM project for employment of human resources and mosquito control," he said. If need be, the health ministry will also consider developing a national programme for control of dengue on the lines of the national malaria control programme, he said.
Azad also said the municipal corporations, urban local bodies and other local bodies should undertake campaigns for sanitation and cleanliness.
The meeting also decided to carry out fogging to kill adult mosquitoes while spraying of larvicides at mosquito breeding centers.
Courtesy: TOI
