PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz chaired a high-level meeting related to dengue control and prevention on Thursday and got a briefing about steps being taken to ensure effective planning before the onset of dengue season.

Addressing the meeting, the chief secretary appreciated arrangements being put in place and also directed to strengthen coordination between the concerned departments.

It was informed that 2017 was the worst year in which the highest number of 25, 000 dengue cases was recorded. However, due to effective planning and prior arrangements, 1,022 cases were recorded in 2018 and 7,082 cases in 2019.

The meeting was also briefed about the major reasons for outbreak in 2019 that included unplanned urbanisation, demographic changes (population growth and land use pattern), interrupted water supplies, frequent power outages, increased movement of population and goods, and unavailability of trained staff (entomologist) for vector control.

The chief secretary was informed that apart from inspection of houses and storage places, awareness campaigns had also been conducted to create preventive awareness among masses whereas as centralised monitoring and database was available for surveillance and data collection purposes.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2020