PESHAWAR is threatened with a serious dengue outbreak. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has called an emergency meeting on Monday to decide what measures can immediately be taken to control the problem. The emergency is confirmed by figures which say some 831 people have tested positive for dengue over the last few weeks at the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar alone. It is no surprise that the authorities have identified areas used for the large-scale trade of vehicular tyres as a source of the dengue virus. There are also other nurseries of dengue larva that need to be quickly identified. Five dengue deaths have been reported over the last few weeks and there have been calls for the government to move fast and well beyond its focus on localities used excessively and without sufficient caution for the sale of tyres.

Pakistan, unfortunately, has had more than its fair share of the dengue scare in recent years. The most prominent example, both in terms of the severity of the threat and the robustness of the counter effort, is provided by Punjab, in particular Lahore. The experience here tells us that the war against dengue has to be intense and without letup. There has to be greater urgency shown in the official work in Peshawar apart from running fumigation campaigns and standard awareness drives. The country has learnt a lot from others, most of all from Sri Lanka, about how to tackle dengue. The Punjab government has especially benefited from Lankan help after its terrifying experience with the illness in 2011-12 — the time when many areas in KP were also hit by the virus. To give credit where it’s due, Punjab benefited greatly because it was in the charge of an ‘overactive’ chief minister. Mr Shahbaz Sharif went after dengue like a man possessed, enacting new laws to prevent the formation of dengue larva nurseries, educating doctors in how to treat dengue patients after a series of deaths initially blamed on the shock caused by the virus, etc. The confidence of doctors treating dengue patients in Punjab has increased over time, but more than that, the plan has to be made effective at the prevention stage. Obviously, the authorities in KP would be aware of the value of the Lahore experience. They must not be hesitant in demanding all and any help they think can be provided by Punjab.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2017