Reactivate environment police unit to assist in curbing spread of dengue

As the year draws to an end, among the many challenges that people face is the increased risk from dengue fever. By mid-December more than 80,000 cases had been recorded from across the country for 2023 with the Colombo district and the Western Province being the most affected.

The total number of cases recorded from the Colombo district was close to 17,000 by mid-December while in the Western Province, the number was close to 40,000.

The latest bad news is coming from the Jaffna district where several deaths were reported in the past two weeks due to an increase in dengue fever with more than 22,000 cases reported in the past month. Among those who died while under treatment at the Jaffna General Hospital in the past two days were an 11-month-old infant and an undergraduate of the Jaffna University.

The inclement weather this year with prolonged periods of wet weather has contributed to the spread of mosquito borne diseases. This is more pronounced in the urban areas where water clogging is common while dumping of garbage on roadsides or into waterways and other places has contributed to the rampant breeding of mosquitoes.

Sri Lanka has had a long struggle with dengue fever which has claimed many lives and also affected thousands of others. Such diseases also have an economic cost not only to the country but also to individuals and families. People who get affected with dengue are often laid out in bed for several days and need rest for an extended period to recover which in turn affects their livelihoods and productivity.

While healthcare professionals in the country successfully manage and care for dengue patients, saving lives and winning international accolades for their work, it is the preventative work that needs a bigger boost. This is not something the State sector can do on its own and Public Health Inspectors (PHI)s who are tasked with visiting homes and other establishments to check mosquito breeding sites and educate the public imposing fines, etc., need public assistance: Sri Lanka has successfully curbed the spread of other mosquito borne diseases such as malaria and filaria but has been unable to put an end to the threat posed by the spread of dengue fever.

In 2007, the Parliament enacted an Act for the Prevention of Mosquito Breeding. This came in the wake of dengue reaching epidemic proportions, but it too has not had a noteworthy impact. The task of prosecuting those guilty of violating the provisions of the law takes too long and is a tedious exercise and is not effective with dealing with a problem of this nature.

The public has the biggest role to play in curbing such public health issues. The Sri Lankan public are capable of responding responsibly to such situations. When the COVID pandemic set in, the public played a big role in minimising the spread of the disease by taking precautionary measures such as wearing masks, social distancing, etc. What is needed in dealing with dengue is also a more proactive role by the public with public health officials engaging with the public by educating them and emphasising the danger that mosquitoes pose to their health. Laws that are confined to the statute books have little bearing in such cases.

The public on their own have a big role to play by ensuring their surroundings are kept clean and disposing of their garbage responsibility. The plastic bottles, yoghurt cups, beer cans are placed rife for mosquitoes to breed and these are discarded irresponsibly by people who neglect their civil duty and have no regard for their fellow citizens.

Meanwhile the once active environment police are almost defunct now and a good step would be to reactivate the unit and get their assistance to work alongside PHIs. In the same manner that the police have been deployed to carry out raids to crack down on drug dealers and organised crime, there should be a similar focus in dealing with public health issues.