‘A health warning to the people of Mangaluru’
Mangaluru: It is true that we are all facing the big crisis of Covid-19. Staying at home, maintaining personal hygiene and social distancing are the top priorities for all of us to tackle the pandemic. Nobody has the time to think of anything else. But we Mangaloreans can not risk forgetting about the two other deadly diseases Dengue and Malaria which are at our doorstep. Let us remember that we have not been able to defeat these two mosquito-borne deadly diseases since the last thirty years. Just last year we had the Dengue epidemic in our city.
The easiest method to control these two diseases is to reduce the density of the mosquitoes in our surroundings. The Anopheles mosquito that causes Malaria and the Aedes mosquito that causes Dengue, both breed in freshwater. Once the rain starts these mosquitoes will find plenty of places to breed in because people keep unused things in their surroundings such as old tyres, cans, tender coconut shells, bottles etc. These turn into breeding spots for mosquitoes when the rainwater gets collected in them. Mosquitoes also breed in wells, uncovered overhead water tanks, open terrace, flower pots and vases and so on. Mosquitoes breed wherever the water gets collected and remains stagnant for a week. During the scarcity of water, people tend to store water in open, uncovered drums and thus provide ideal spots for the mosquitoes to breed. If we don’t offer breeding places, mosquitoes don’t breed in our surroundings. Just take care that water doesn’t get collected and remain stagnant for a week. Try to spread awareness among people regarding this.
As you all know, last year, we had 50 teams of volunteers each consisting of 20 social workers who visited our homes along the government health workers to check if any mosquitoes were breeding in our surroundings. But this year they will not be able to come, and the responsibility of destroying the breeding places of the mosquitoes is solely on each of us, the citizens of Mangaluru. If we don’t take care, we may have to fight Malaria and Dengue along with COVID-19.
If you have any further queries/questions in this regard contact: A Suresh Shetty, Malaria Cell, MNPO, 9845408002.