Anti-dengue awareness

The Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Ministry has embarked on several programmes aimed at educating students on the deadly dengue menace.

Launching the Anti-Dengue campaign under its Blog for FT Cares (ADB) programme last Thursday, its Minister, Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin, said the campaign against the dengue threat was also targeted at social network users.

According to the latest statistics from the Health Ministry, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur recorded 1,571 dengue cases up to this month which is the second-highest number in the country. Last year 4,124 cases were reported over a similar period.

Raja Nong Chik said the three-day ADB which began last Wednesday involved 3,000 pupils and 150 canteen operators from 10 schools here.

They were taught through lectures and interactive sessions how to prevent the breeding of the Aedes mosquito and how to detect symptoms of dengue fever. The sessions were conducted by Rentokil Initial (M) Sdn Bhd (Rentokil).

Raja Nong Chik hoped the students would now understand the importance of keeping their surroundings clean and free from becoming breeding areas.

“We hope the parents can also play a role by conducting regular gotong-royong programmes in their neighbourhood to reduce the dengue threat,” he said.

Rentokil managing director Carol Lam said that canteen operators were also educated on how to keep their area clean and rodent-free.

Source: NOEL ACHARIAM