DILI, 7 december 2021 (TATOLI) – The Health Authorities and the communities in the Comoro village of the Dom Aleixo Administrative Post, carried out neighborhoods cleanup activities to destroy mosquito breeding sites.
“These cleanup activities aim to destroy the mosquito breeding sites in the area of Dom Aleixo to reduce the number of dengue cases,” the Head Department of the Environmental Health of the Ministry of Health, Agostinho de Oliveira told reporters in Dili, on friday.
He said the cleanup activities were implemented in a number of villages of Dom Aleixo Administrative Post which has been considered to be one of the areas with the high risk of dengue fever.
“The mosquito fogging operation is to kill, or ‘knock down’, any adult dengue mosquitoes that may be carrying the dengue virus. But, it is important to destroy the breeding sites of mosquitos as well to control the mosquito population,” he said.
Oliveira said that MoH has 20 boxes of Tamefos (trade name Abate) to be used to combat and prevent mosquitos in Dili.
Previously, the Head of Dili Municipal Health Services, Agustinha Segurado informed that dengue and severe dengue pose a public health problem in Timor-Leste every year due to environmental factors.
“Environmental factors are the main causes in contributing to an increase in the transmission of diseases by vectors,” Segurado made the comments at the Ministry of Health, in Dili, on tuesday.
She said vector control remains still the primary method to prevent dengue infections: “Environmental interventions to control dengue vectors are important: “I call on communities to clean and look after the area where they live to ensure the environmental management of dengue mosquito populations.”
In addition, the head of Comoro Village of Dom Aleixo Administrative Post, Eurico da Costa de Jesus said that eight fever dengue cases, with six deaths, had been recorded in his village since the cases of dengue were spiked from december 2021 to january 2022.
Relevant News: http://www.tatoli.tl/en/2022/01/04/six-minors-die-due-to-dengue-in-timor-leste-within-december/
He said he would conduct an urgent meeting with the head of the sub-villages, relevant authorities, and the communities themselves to carry out mosquito population control and other preventive practices of dengue, including cleaning and collecting the rubbish in the village.
“The cleaning had been carried out in four high-risk hamlets for dengue fever, namely Beto Tasi, Beto Naroman, Beto Anin Fuik, and 22 de Outubro,” he said.
Relevant News: http://www.tatoli.tl/en/2022/01/06/hngv-run-out-of-space-to-accommodate-more-patients-for-hospitalization/
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges Fernandes
