Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, April 20: The Health Department has launched a unique campaign to prevent diseases like dengue, malaria, chikungunya, in which children and teachers of government schools are also being included. Giving this information, Civil Surgeon Dr. Sangeeta Jain said that on the instructions of Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Balbir Singh, teams of the District Health Department are going to schools and giving information to teachers and children about the symptoms, causes, prevention and treatment of dengue fever.
He said that under this initiative called ‘Little Champions Campaign’, teachers and students are being made aware about ways to prevent water from accumulating anywhere within the school premises, cleanliness in schools and homes and prevention of mosquito larvae. Dr. Jain said that the aim of this campaign is that school children themselves should be aware about these diseases and also make their parents, neighbours and relatives aware.
Apart from this, the subjects of these diseases will be included in the children’s extra-curricular activities like drawing, question and answer competitions, exhibitions, street plays and school work during summer vacations. He said that the head of the school and others who have not reported any case of dengue fever during the dengue season will also be honored.
It is worth mentioning that under the ‘Every Friday, Dengue’ Te War’ campaign that has been going on for the last three years, there has been a significant reduction in dengue cases and deaths due to dengue. Under the leadership of District Epidemiologist Dr. Anamika Soni, health teams are already training students of various nursing colleges of the district about these diseases. The health teams have covered many colleges of the district so far.
The students are being told that dengue is a fever that is caused by the bite of Aedes aegypti mosquito. Common symptoms of dengue include severe headache, high fever, pain in muscles and joints, pain behind the eyes, bleeding from the nose, mouth and gums in case of worsening condition, nausea and vomiting etc.
Dengue-carrying mosquitoes breed in standing water such as coolers, water tanks, flower pots, trays behind refrigerators, broken/abandoned utensils, empty tires/boxes, water drums etc. The only way to prevent dengue fever is to not allow water to accumulate anywhere because the dengue-carrying mosquito breeds in clean, stagnant water. Dengue testing and treatment is completely free in government health institutions. For information, the health department's helpline number 104 can be contacted.