Dengue Outbreak Suggests That It is Time We Take Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Seriously

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan revolves around the fact that several diseases can be stamped out simply by improving sanitation in India. Several disease-causing bugs, viruses, bacteria, protozoa and parasitic worms are found in the feces of infected people. These infectious agents find their way into our bodies through contaminated soil and water and food handled by infected people. Adding to that is mosquitoes breeding menace in stagnant and fresh waters. This is the primary reason for thriving of the dengue-transmitting Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes.

Virologists said, "The current outbreak is the worst in five years because of the combination of Strain 2 and Strain 4 of dengue in circulation. Dengue Type-4 is a rarer and a stronger strain which has not gripped the national capital since 2003. Its symptoms include fever with shock and a drop in platelets count."

One of the biggest complications in dengue is fever-induced dehydration which leads to seizures and needs admission in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for the patient.

While safe and clean drinking water is a dire need, the water dispensing machines in public places are a sham. Government machinery needs to improve its technology and upgrade its skills so as to improve the actual delivery of sanitation services at the ground level.

Currently, there is a huge gap in terms of those responsible for collection, transportation and treatment of both solid and liquid waste in urban areas. As per the latest government data, 1.42 lakh tonnes of solid waste was generated per day in urban areas in July, 2015, and only 15.33% of it was processed, indicating how under-equipped the civic bodies are to handle the mammoth task.

Many lives are being lost in Delhi due to this preventable disease. The government needs to adopt some urgent measures to control the dengue outbreak.

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Source-IANS