Source: Prothom Alo English

Dengue Cases in Bangladesh: Why They Keep ClimbingSome of the country’s top epidemiologists, entomologists and public health experts were not present at the Sunday’s meeting. They had not been invited. Meanwhile, the main task of controlling mosquitoes has been given to the local government ministry. While representatives of Dhaka North and South city corporations were present at the meeting, there were no officials or representatives of the local government ministry.Other than health ministry representatives, the meeting was attended by representatives of the education, public works and information ministries as well as the ICT division and business organisations. Health minister Zahid Maleque conducted the main discussion.Participants at the meeting came up with many recommendations. They recommended that work on dengue must be carried out the year round, the main thrust must be on prevention, various ministries must be involved in tackling dengue, a national committee for dengue must be formed headed by the health ministry, regular tests must be conducted to see if the insecticides being used to eradicate mosquitoes are effective, the application of the insecticide must be scientific, and the workers spraying the insecticide must be provided with proper training. At the start of the meeting, the disease control wing made a presentation on the present state of dengue in the country.Taking part in the discussions, Professor Syed Abdul Hamid of Dhaka University’s health economics department said that there was no regular fund allocation for the health department to deal with any sudden outbreak like that of dengue. There needs to be a regular allocation otherwise during an emergency, various institutions in the health sector have to wait for funds.Health secretary (health services) Anwar Hossain Howladar said that according to their records, so far all over the country 27 children aged between 6 to 10 years have died of dengue. This included 15 boys and 12 girls.