Desk Report:
The first meeting of the ‘National Committee on Dengue Prevention and Other Mosquito-borne Diseases’ was held under the chairmanship of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir with the aim of taking coordinated and effective steps to prevent dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases. State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam was present at the meeting held at the meeting room of the Local Government Division at the Secretariat on Tuesday.
The meeting decided to form a special task force under the supervision of State Minister for Local Government Mir Shahe Alam to deal with the dengue situation and further strengthen preventive activities. This task force will be responsible for supervising activities at the field level, providing necessary guidelines, increasing coordination between various agencies and implementing emergency measures.
In his speech, Local Government Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that all the relevant institutions must work together to prevent dengue. He mentioned that government initiatives alone are not enough to combat dengue; public awareness and active participation are also very important. To this end, he directed the relevant government and private institutions including city corporations, municipalities, district councils under the Ministry of Local Government to perform their duties more effectively.
Several important decisions were taken in the meeting to prevent dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases. These include distributing leaflets and awareness pamphlets on a large scale through various departments and organizations, conducting special awareness programs involving teachers, students and guardians in schools, colleges and madrasas, strengthening cleanliness drives in coordination with local administration, public representatives and civil society, and increasing publicity activities in the media and social media.
In addition, it has been decided to regularly test and supervise the quality of fogger machines and mosquito extermination activities, conduct special campaigns to identify and destroy Aedes mosquito breeding sites, increase regular inspections of buildings under construction, rooftop gardens, tire shops, garages and waterlogged areas, identify places where dengue larvae have been detected and take necessary measures, and further strengthen monitoring and supervision activities for dengue prevention. In addition, emphasis was placed on identifying risky areas and taking necessary measures by quickly collecting and analyzing information on dengue-infected patients.
The speakers at the meeting said that it is important to take coordinated and strong preparations from now on as there is a risk of an increase in dengue outbreaks during the monsoon season. In addition to implementing the decisions taken by the national committee quickly, emphasis was also placed on increasing the pace of activities at the field level and ensuring the necessary manpower.
Representatives of various ministries, organizations and city corporations, as well as senior officials of Dhaka University, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, WASA, LGED, DPHE, RAJUK and the Local Government Department participated in the meeting.
It is worth noting that the National Committee has recently been reconstituted to make the government’s activities to prevent dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases more coordinated and effective. Representatives of various ministries, departments and organizations are serving as members of this committee, headed by Local Government Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. It is hoped that effective progress will be achieved in dengue control by implementing the decisions taken in the first meeting of the National Committee.
