No alternative to better waste management in urban areas: speakers

There is no alternative to a multi-sectoral and standard waste management in urban areas to fight dengue and other mosquito-borne disease, speakers at a discussion said yesterday.

Besides, mosquito control activities need an intensive engagement of urban dwellers to make it effective, they said while speaking at the Dissemination Workshop for Post-Monsoon Aedes Survey-2020.

The Communicable Disease Control (CDC) unit of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) organised the event at National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM) in the capital.

In the event, Dr Afsana Alamgir Khan, deputy project manager of national malaria control under CDC, presented the survey report. In 2020, a total of seven people died of dengue fever -- much lower than the previous year's death toll of 179, according to the report.

In her presentation, Dr Afsana said, a total of 3,000 households in Dhaka city were surveyed during the 10 day study between December 18 and 27, 2020.

The survey teams found Aedes larvae in 124 households.

Common breeding sources of Aedes mosquito were flower tubs and trays, discarded tires, plastic drums, bottles and polythene bags, buckets, flooded floors, cement tanks, elevator space, and pockets in water meters.

The survey revealed that nearly 39 percent of the households where dengue larvae were observed were construction sites, while more than 35 percent were multi-storied buildings and more than 16 percent were independent households.

Speaking as chief guest at the event, Prof ABM Khurshid Alam, director general of DGHS said, "There are many offices working to control the mosquito-borne disease. There is a need for coordination among these offices."

Prof Dr Baizid Khurshid Riaz, Director of NIPSOM said, "Mosquitoes have been the deadliest killer in the history."

"Especially we have to arrange modern mechanism to manage solid waste to combat it," he added.

Prof Dr Nazmul Islam, director of disease control of DGHS, said, "Mosquitoes has been a threat due to the long-run mismanagement, and our failure to work collectively."

Prof Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the DGHS; Prof Tahmina Shirin, director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR); Dhaka South City Corporation chief health officer Brig Gen Sharif Ahmed; and Dhaka North City Corporation chief health officer Brig Gen Md Jubaidur Rahman spoke at the event, among others.