Jamaica Launches Dengue Outbreak Mitigation Plan

Jamaica Ministry of Health and Wellness launched its Dengue Outbreak Mitigation Plan, which includes search-and-destroy operations, clinical management, workforce management, surveillance, and public education.

“The plan’s objective is to lessen the dengue outbreak’s negative effects on the populace,” stated Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, Portfolio Minister.

Along with about 213 regular employees, about 500 temporary vector-control personnel have already been hired and sent to high-risk regions throughout the island. He said that to strengthen the response’s search-and-destroy and health-education components, another 600 temporary employees are currently employed.

On Tuesday, October 3, Dr. Tufton gave a speech in the House of Representatives.

He said all parish health emergency operations centres and the National Health Emergency Operations Center had been operational.

These facilities will oversee initiatives in high-risk regions across all parishes and supply vital surveillance data.

“The Ministry has additionally devised a public education campaign encompassing focused messaging regarding search-and-destroy operations in areas with high human traffic density and homes, safeguarding children and identifying severe dengue warning signs, treating dengue and the appropriate drug regimens, and individual accountability for mitigating dengue in our environs,” Dr Tufton informed the House.

He added that regional teams from the Ministry of Education and Youth as well as the Ministry of Health and Wellness had convened and decided on a number of measures, such as training school staff in search-and-destroy procedures, gathering principals to discuss better coordination, and removing large amounts of waste from school grounds.