PESHAWAR, July 20: The Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan (IDSP) has stressed the need for spreading awareness about infectious diseases among people in the Frontier province.

Talking to Dawn, the society’s chief, Dr Noorul Iman, said that there was a dire need to spread awareness about infectious ailments at the grassroots level to ensure community participation in the fight against such diseases.

People should be informed about measures to be taken to stop the outbreak of preventable diseases.

He said that it was unfortunate that many people fell prey to diseases like malaria, chickenpox, rabies, tetanus, meningitis and hepatitis, which could be prevented through preventive measures.

He said that they had planned to hold camps at hospitals to spread awareness among the people regarding preventive measures of the infectious ailments.

He said that the camps would stress more on prevention of a disease than its cure. He said that spending money on prevention of infectious diseases was more beneficial than upon its cure.

According to him, the society was a public-oriented forum and would include doctors, paramedics, social workers and students. He added that pharmaceutical companies had assured of support to the society.

The society, he said, was a non-profitable and a charitable endeavour to provide a platform to like-minded people to get together to improve public health system.