WITH the monsoon season underway in Pakistan, the threat of another dengue outbreak hangs over us. The warning signs are here: Sindh logged its first dengue-related casualty with the death of a young male patient at the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital. In June, Karachi recorded 32 new dengue incidents, with single cases in Mirpurkhas and Sukkur. This year, Sindh reported 295 dengue cases; 260 of these were from Karachi. While the June count is significantly lower than in the past four years, the health authorities cannot afford to let their guard down. Besides, climate change has altered the pattern of vector-borne infections as well as engendered new temperature-resilient mosquito species. Without a sustained, comprehensive programme, timely precautions and mass awareness, annual surges will be difficult to block.

In 2017, KP set an example by seeking help from the Punjab government, which had fought a dengue epidemic in 2011 with a remarkable strategy involving collaboration between Pakistani, Indonesian and Sri Lankan medical experts. New regulations were enforced to thwart the seasonal health emergency. The time has come for Sindh to follow suit. The province must prioritise the public’s well-being and implement an upgraded version of the Punjab template, alongside carrying out extensive fumigation drives as well as providing skilled medics and medicines to ease symptoms and avoid critical cases of low platelet counts. The fact that Punjab has been dengue-clear through June shows that through early directives and heightened public and administrative alertness, it has managed to contain the disease, which is laudable. To ensure that the populace does not have to endure repeated bouts of agony, deterrence initiatives must at the very least keep pace with mosquito breeding. Access to hygienic living conditions and cost-free dengue tests is the antidote to the Aedes aegypti mosquito that thrives in fresh water.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2025