Jeddah municipality fights dengue fever

A meeting was recently held between the Jeddah Municipal Council and the crisis management department (CMD) at the municipality, after a recent outbreak of dengue fever. The meeting was held to address and combat the high rates of this disease, which is spread by mosquitoes and characterized by a sudden high fever. The meeting was held in the presence of the chairman of the council, Ayman Fadil; his deputy Abdullah Al-Muhammadi; Mayor of Jeddah Hani Abu Ras; and Sultan Al-Qahtani, director of the municipality’s crisis management department. At the beginning of the meeting, Al-Qahtani displayed a visual presentation on Jeddah Municipality’s crisis management department, recalling its foundation in 2006 to combat dengue fever, following the decision of the Council of Ministers on 13/2/1426H. The CMD was created to support several projects designed to reduce and mitigate the seriousness of dengue fever. Once the CMD was established, it set up an integrated dengue control management strategy and put into effect disease control programs such as the use of various insecticides to kill mosquitoes. In addition, the preventive department at the primary health care administration in the Jeddah governorate initiated an awareness campaign explaining to citizens how to avoid exposure to the disease and treatment regime. The department also contributed toward the elimination of mosquito breeding sites. The visual presentation focused on the efforts of the Jeddah Municipality during the past four years toward the implementation of dengue fever control systems, under the name of “Anti-dengue vectors”. The two main programs that were implemented are namely the household control of mosquito-borne dengue fever and intensive control in both larval and adult stages of mosquitoes outside the household. These programs are still effective and are working effectively to combat the disease in the poorer neighborhoods of the city, which have high-recorded rates of dengue fever infection cases. CMD is combating the larval and adult stages of mosquitoes inside households and buildings in line with the implementation of the strategy program entitled “Control from house to house.” The program utilizes the latest available techniques in the areas of geographic information systems (GIS), insecticides and integrated control of the mosquito vectors for diseases. Furthermore, CMD follows up with the Ministry of Health to obtain data on the incidence and number of homes that recorded cases of dengue fever, in order to track the disease’s place of origin and combat the mosquitoes located in the vicinity of the household. This procedure is a modern method used globally to reduce the breeding spots of mosquitoes causing the infection around homes and private building. A report submitted by the Jeddah Municipality revealed other means of combating dengue fever, such as replacing curtains and wire screens on windows with Permethrin pesticide treated nets, covering exposed water tanks in households and monitoring ponds and marshes. Meanwhile, the Jeddah Municipal Council lauded the success of the municipality in combating dengue fever and requested they continue in these concerted efforts, especially since this disease requires continuous work to prevent another outbreak. From Arabnews