PESHAWAR: Secretary health Adeel Shah on Friday visited several areas of the provincial capital and inspected potential dengue mosquito breeding sites as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 141 more cases, taking the tally to 1,222.

Accompanied by director general health services Dr Mohammad Saleem Khan, Mr Shah also participated in an awareness walk with the residents of Tehkal and the Irrigation Colony, and interacted with the public, going door-to-door, and educating them about the dangers posed by dengue mosquito and the rapid spread of dengue fever.

He said the number of dengue cases had risen recently and stressed the importance of identifying and eliminating mosquito breeding grounds. He urged the community to take simple yet effective measures such as ensuring that water did not accumulate in places like refrigerators, room coolers, flowerpots, or rooftops, which serve as common breeding grounds for dengue mosquito.

To combat the spread of the disease, he directed the district health teams to conduct daily visits to high-risk areas to ensure they remained free of dengue mosquito.

“We are committed to eradicating dengue from these areas, and daily monitoring is essential to control the disease swiftly,” he said.

The secretary health also mentioned that public awareness messages were being disseminated across multiple platforms, including television, radio, social media, and through announcements at BRT bus stations, to educate the public on dengue prevention.

He said the health department had so far distributed over 400,000 mosquito nets across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “The situation remains under control, with active dengue cases significantly lower compared to previous years. Our proactive efforts are helping to manage the outbreak effectively,” he added.

On this occasion, DG health services Dr Saleem said that dengue control teams were active in every district to effectively implement the Dengue Action Plan 2024. “This plan focuses on patient management and increased public awareness of the vector-borne disease.”

“Our collaboration with relevant departments is crucial to enhancing measures to control the disease across the province,” said Dr Saleem.

He noted that efforts had been intensified in the highly affected areas such as Peshawar, Kohat, Nowshera, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Haripur, Khyber and Bajaur. “Special teams have been deployed to carry out dengue spraying operations during peak times, at dawn and dusk, while public awareness campaigns have been further ramped up.”

He urged the public to continue following preventive measures to help control the spread of the disease. He said the department was using all available resources to safeguard citizens from dengue fever.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2024