Dengue fortnight to be observed

This was stated by Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka while addressing a meeting as chief guest in the city yesterday.

The meeting was organised by the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) at its conference room to create awareness among the people about Aedes mosquito.

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Advocate Khandaker Mahbubuddin Ahmed MP presided over the meeting.

The mayor said he will arrange a meeting soon with the information minister along with the executives of all electronic media to launch an awareness campaign in this regard.

The DCC will also have meetings with different women organisations seeking their formal involvement in the mosquito control dive, he added.

The mayor said a special cleansing drive will be launched in Dhanmondi, Kalabagan and Kathalbagan where the prevalence of of Aedes mosquito was very high last year.

Assuring full institutional support of the DCC, he hoped that people from all walks of life will extend their cooperation to control the disease that becomes prevalent in the pre- and post-monsoon period.

Khandaker Mahbubuddin Ahmed, who is the president of the advisory committee for controlling mosquito, suggested printing of several lakh posters and leaflets for creating awareness about dengue fever among the people.

He said these can be distributed among the people through volunteers under the leadership of the ward commissioners.

Earlier, speakers comprising environmentalists and ward commissioners called for launching massive awareness campaign as a precautionary step to control the breeding of Aedes mosquito.

They said as the Aedes breeds in clean water of flowerpots and abandoned pots inside a house, housewives have to be informed properly to keep their premises clean.

Habibur Rahman, chief executive officer of the DCC said 450 people were infected in dengue last year and nine of them died in Dhaka. In Chittagong, 19 people were infected while one died.

There was no dengue patient in Rajshahi and Khulna city corporations, he added.

Environmentalist Prof Nazrul Islam and writer Emdadul Haque Milon also spoke at the meeting.