With the annual dengue season just around the corner, it is commendable that the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has launched a 10-day special drive against Aedes mosquitoes, the carrier of dengue. Every year, we lose a significant number of lives to this disease, deaths that are a fatal byproduct of our lackluster preparations.
As such, it is good that the city corporation has become pro-active regarding this issue. If adequate preparations are taken -- and in turn are adopted as an annual practice -- then we might be able to eradicate this scourge altogether.
The drive carried out by the DNCC will last for 10 days, and they will be targeting breeding grounds that are used by the Aedes mosquitoes. However, we have seen in the past that the drives have fallen short of the mark. There have even been allegations that the repellant used by the city corporations is either faulty or expired. The DNCC would do well to review its past operations, find out its flaws, and make alterations where necessary.
As a long-term and more sustainable initiative, however, we need to improve our health care infrastructure. Countries that had the dengue problem in the past were successful in its eradication specifically because they invested in their health care sector -- especially when it came to the recruitment of researchers. We require medical experts and doctors but at the same time, quality researchers who will aid us in not just reacting to diseases, but help us stay one step ahead. If we don’t take the right measures, we will be living with dengue for a long time.
The DNCC has definitely made the right call in being pro-active regarding this disease. Now the rest of the authorities need to follow suit.