Dear Editor,
There is deep concern over the outbreak of the dengue disease in Guyana. The reported cases for January and February 2024 of over 1 million in neighbouring Brazil (with which Guyana shares the south-western border) and where there exists cross-border travel and trade, heighten the people’s anxiety.
Guyana has gone through the trauma of COVID-19 and did exceptionally well to control that disease, but she does not want to walk again on a similar track. Naturally, Guyanese are also worried about the outbreak of the dengue disease for which there is no specific treatment in Guyana, other than infected persons taking tablets for pain and fever.
Dengue is spread by the aedes aegypti and the aedes albopictus mosquitoes. The aedes mosquito also spreads malaria and Zika. Symptoms of dengue are usually high fever, headache, vomiting, and rash. It is estimated by World Health Organization (WHO) that between 100 million to 400 million people are infected per year.
Guyana as of August 24, 2024 had 17, 042 cases (8,389 new cases and 8653 old cases in 2024). The Ministry conducted RDT tests on 31,669 persons and a positive rate of 26% was recorded. The number of infected persons hospitalized as of August 24, 2024, was 909 (or 5.3% of reported infected cases), while 5 persons died.
I need to give context to this health challenge. The PPPC government recognizes that physical infrastructural growth (roads, bridges, hotels, etc) must be accompanied by significant changes in the social sector like education, health, legal and social welfare. The way people view these sectors is how they would embrace the changes taking place. It is vital therefore that they are prepared to change old attitudes that would not be compatible with the new ones emerging out of modernization.
Changes in attitudes are fundamental. With respect to the legal system, for example, I paraphrase Marx’s famous dictum: “You cannot make old laws [and attitudes] the foundation of a new social development any more than these old laws [and attitudes] created the old social conditions.” The weekly grassroots mobilization, combined with modernizing the education sector, and the thrust to make Guyana a world-class provider of healthcare services (producing healthier workers and families) are part of the process to get people to accept attitudinal changes.
It is for this reason that the government is creating a modern healthcare system and has allocated in 2024 the second biggest budget amount ($(G) 129.8 billion). Given that there is no specific medication to treat dengue, the question is: “How would the government control the spread of dengue and allay the public’s concern?”
Health minister Dr Frank Anthony says that much work therefore has to focus on prevention. The Ministry has distributed 50,000 medicine-laced mosquito nettings that last for 3 years to people who live in the high-risk areas of regions 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, and 10. They also would spray and disinfect the surrounding neighbourhoods (a process called fogging) where pools of water or open receptacles exist that favour the breeding of mosquitoes. One mosquito could lay as much as 200 eggs per day.
At the institutional level, Dr Frank Anthony says that responsibility for mosquito control is being devolved unto the NDCs which are in a better position to monitor and to implement preventive measures. The Ministry is providing the tools and supplies (fogging machines, mosquito nettings, insecticides, etc) and training. The Ministry will continue to monitor the overall situation and offer technical assistance.
To control any infectious disease also requires citizens’ behavioural change. In this way, Guyana will control dengue as it did with Covid-19 and other infectious diseases.
Sincerely,
Dr Tara Singh
