Nawanshahr- Keeping World Malaria Day in mind, a meeting of the district-level inter-departmental committee for the prevention of dengue, malaria, chikungunya and other vector-borne diseases was organized at the District Administrative Complex under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner Ankurjit Singh. In which representatives of various government partner departments besides the health department participated.
On this occasion, Deputy Commissioner Ankurjit Singh directed the officials of various government partner departments including health, education, local government, rural development and panchayat departments to work together to prevent vector-borne diseases in the district. Describing the prevention and control of such diseases as a collective responsibility, the Deputy Commissioner directed the officials to activate a district-level WhatsApp group. Where the health department will post to update the concerned department regarding cases of vector-borne diseases like fever, dengue or malaria. So that they can intervene in time to take appropriate preventive measures in the specific area from where such cases are coming.
He stressed on the importance of seamless coordination between the officers of the concerned departments. He stressed that all the details of the cases, hotspots, samples and other necessary information should be easily available with each officer.
He also informed that the Punjab Government has started a unique ‘Little Champions Campaign’ for the prevention of diseases like Dengue, Malaria, Chikungunya, in which children and teachers of government schools have been included. He said that the teams of the District Health Department should go to the schools and inform the 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 should be made aware about the methods of not allowing water to accumulate anywhere within the school premises, cleanliness in schools and homes and ways to prevent the breeding of mosquito larvae. He said that the aim of this campaign is to make school children aware of these diseases themselves and also make their parents, neighbours and relatives aware.
In addition, the subjects of these diseases should be included in the children's extra-curricular activities like drawing, question and answer competitions, exhibitions, street plays and school work during summer vacations. Under this campaign, educational institutions should also be reached out to educate students about the larvae, as they can play an important role in sensitizing people around them to help prevent mosquito breeding.