Government seeks Rs 974 million from donors for dengue control

The Federal government has requested Rs 974 million assistance from donors to control rapidly spreading dengue fever in Pakistan as the total amount projected to fight the epidemic is Rs 1.6 billion.
Well-placed sources told Business Recorder here on Wednesday that out of the projected Rs 1.6 billion, Rs 974 million have been requested from the donors like USAID and Australian Aid, while for the rest of Rs 626 million, the Federal government has decided to provide this money to the provinces from their Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
"The Federal government has offered the provinces Rs 626 million from the Malaria Control Programme that has been agreed by the provinces. So, the federal government has directed the provinces to send their approval in the written form and after that the amount would be released to control dengue virus", sources revealed.
Sources added that a report titled 'Need Assessment Regarding Dengue in Pakistan' has been issued by the Planning Commission in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), as per directions of the donors in order to combat the rapidly spreading dengue fever. "This report would be discussed with the Provincial Health Departments and in this regard a meeting would be held today (Wednesday) in Punjab where the representatives of the Federal government would discuss the ways to control the dengue epidemic with the provincial health secretaries and WHO representatives.
According to the sources, a 5-year long strategy to control dengue has already been drafted and forwarded to the government of Punjab. Now a Plan of Action would be presented before the provincial government within next 7 days and afterwards the approval of the Plan of Action would be followed by PC-I.
"This strategy would no doubt be a model for the Asian region to control dengue fever", sources said. WHO pre-qualified insecticides are now available in Pakistan. "In winter, the dengue attacks would be reduced to the minimum due to the low temperature but the eggs of the female mosquito, Aides Aegypti, could not be finished with these insecticides and in the next summer season, dengue would again attack even with more intensity if the coming strategy would not be applied ", sources explained.
The Aides Aegypti mosquito is a vector for dengue fever. When a female mosquito feeds on the blood of an infected person it absorbs the virus that causes dengue. If that same mosquito 'bites' an uninfected person it injects the virus into that individual's blood. This can lead to this second individual developing dengue fever. Dengue fever should not be confused with Dengue hemorrhagic fever, which is a separate disease that is caused by the same type of virus but has much more severe symptoms. The symptoms of the dengue fever include sudden high fever, often as high as 104 - 105 degrees Fahrenheit while a flat, red rash may appear over most of the body 2 - 5 days after the fever starts. Headache, Fatigue, Joint aches, Muscle aches, Nausea, Swollen lymph nodes, and vomiting.
In the twin cities of Rawalpindi/Islamabad dengue fever is spreading each passing day. Sources in the Poly Clinic told the newspaper that the total 393 cases had been registered in past 2-3 months in the hospital, while 64 patients out of 393 cases of dengue fever have been cured so far.
The dengue virus is not only a problem in Pakistan but also for our neighbouring country as in India 6,259 dengue cases had been reported only in Delhi in the year 2010. 27,142 cases in Sri Lanka, 76 cases in Bangladesh and 57,948 cases of dengue have been reported in Thailand the last year.