Union Assurance fights dengue

It is a well known fact that the spread of dengue has already claimed the lives of many and endangered the lives of even more within a short expanse of time. It is an illness that is fast approaching epidemic proportions and must be severely dealt with.

Employees at Union Assurance have indeed taken this task to heart as they declared 8 July 2011 as Union Day. Union Assurance staff took to the streets to distribute pamphlets, leaflets, put up sign boards and spread awareness on a one to one basis with various segments in society regarding dengue and its prevention.

This project was carried out as part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Plan.

Among the advice and awareness created by Union Assurance employees regarding dengue was that dengue viruses are transmitted to humans through the bites of infective female Aedes mosquitoes. There are two types of illnesses that can occur through infection of the dengue virus – the normal dengue fever which is a severe, flu-like illness that affects infants, young children and adults, but seldom causes death and the more lethal Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF), which is a potentially deadly complication characterised by high fever, often with enlargement of the liver and in severe cases circulatory failure.

At present there is no vaccination or prevention method other than to eradicate dengue mosquito breeding habitats such as man-made containers like earthenware jars, metal drums and concrete cisterns used for domestic water storage, as well as discarded plastic food containers, used automobile tyres and other items that collect rainwater.