Clearing bulk waste regularly, cleaning water courses annually and educating the public weekly about the dangers of mosquitoes are the main reasons why the Nariva/Mayaro is the only regional district with no cases of Zika virus.
So said chairman of the Public Health Committee of the Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation Shaffik Mohammed.
In an interview yesterday Mohammed called on officials from other municipal and regional corporations to stamp out the dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses through collaborative efforts following a public statement from Chief Medical Officer Dr Clive Tilluckdharry that Zika cases may be in the region of the thousands.
Saying the Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation was tackling mosquito prone areas long before the central government approved a $500,000 grant to combat Zika, Mohammed said constant vigilance was needed.
Mohammed said because of this it was important to have adequate manpower and machinery to win the fight against the mosquitoes.
“You have to become proactive and educate people because prevention is better than cure,” Mohammed said. He said that the corporation as well as the County Medical Officer of Health and the Insect Vector Control department have been working continuously to weed out possible breeding grounds of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito which transmits the Zika virus.
“We meet the third Thursday of each month and we discuss strategies. We have been clearing bulk waste every quarter throughout the constituency and we have evaluators who go out and educate the citizenry about keeping your surroundings clean,” Mohammed added.
“Based on research the Insector Vector department then locks down mosquito prone areas and does extensive dyna-fogging,” he said.
Mohammed, who has been chairman of heath for five years also said some water courses in Ortoire, Grand Lagoon, Latchmania Trace, Navet and Cushe are cleared manually.
“We use backhoes to clear rivers so that each water course is not stagnating,” Mohammed said. He said emergency meetings are held regularly to discuss developments. T&T has been on high alert for Zika with 247 confirmed cases of which 78 are pregnant women. The virus is known to have caused microcephaly and other severe foetal brain defects in babies.