“Small bite, big threat”

Mosquitoes, flies, ticks and bugs may seem to be simple and harmless, but it also can be a threat to your health – and that of your family - at home and when travelling. Furthermore it can be deadly harmful in certain cases. Each year 8^th April is marked as World Health day by World health organization. Slogan for this year’s health day is “Preventing vector-borne diseases”. According to WHO every year, more than one billion people are infected and more than one million die from vector-borne diseases. More than half the world’s population is at risk from diseases such as malaria, dengue, leishmaniasis, Lyme disease, schistosomiasis, and yellow fever, carried by mosquitoes, flies, ticks, water snails and other vectors. However the most common such disease is Dengue which spread from mosquito.

Mosquito-borne dengue is now found in 100 countries, putting more than 2.5 billion people (over 40% of the world's population) at danger. Yet there is no vaccine for dengue which is spread by aedes mosquito. All what we can do is get rid of mosquito. For that we have to avoid the empty spaces which can accumulate water especially in rainy season. Dengue is a seasonal disease and rainy season brings high chance of spreading this disease. Maldivian rainy season often falls into June and July. We need to be extra careful during this period. Hence prevention of dengue is on the hand of general public.

“A global health agenda that gives higher priority to vector control could save many lives and avert much suffering. Simple, cost-effective interventions like insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor spraying have already saved millions of lives,” says Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General. “No one in the 21st century should die from the bite of a mosquito, a sandfly, a blackfly or a tick.”

We have successfully terminated some of transmitted diseases like filarial, malaria yellow fever, but still there is chance of getting dengue anyone of us in Maldives. Dengue was first found in Maldives in 1979 and since 2004 it became more common and hazardous. There was a report of a death caused by dengue in Maldives during the year 2011. It was a huge alarming tragedy which made us to realize we need to adopt extra preventive measure for the purpose.

While marking this day we have to focus our attention to eliminate the causes of mosquito reproduction. Keep the places neat and clean. Treat the garbage according to the rules and regulations. Especially don’t leave the empty spaces which can accumulate water. I feel government and other NGO need to organize and conduct more awareness program regarding the issue. Past few years statistics show that there is a high probability that dengue may spread out of control. It is always advisable to act before too late. Prevention is better than cure.

World Health Day 7th April 2014: small bite, big threat

Reference;

World Health Organization: http://www.wcoomd.org/ 
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/small-bite-big-threat/en/