ZIKA CAN BE PREVENTED IF COMMUNITIES WORK TOGETHER: M.H.M.S

A mosquito bite. Photo: Courtesy of IVAC Blog.

A mosquito bite. Photo: Courtesy of IVAC Blog.

Director of the Health Promotion Division of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) Alby Lovi has said the newly outbreak Zika Virus can be prevented if communities work together with health authorities.

In a media conference recently Mr Lovi said prevention of the Virus is community-based, saying communities should take up front line activities.

“The prevention of this disease is people-based so the key message is that we try to tell people to prevent mosquito bites, so simple things like telling people to wear long sleeves as mosquito bites cannot penetrate through strong materials. We need people to wear such clothing materials, use repellents, mosquito coils and others that can help protect us from mosquito bites.”

Mr Lovi added control of mosquito breeding sites is one of the measures to reduce Zika’s transmission through mosquitoes.

“Things like tyres, empty tins of tuna, coconut cells, empty drums and beer cans left uncollected in our surroundings, we must pick up these things and even flower vases in the homes can also harbour these mosquitos so we need to change its water contents every week so that we can destroy mosquito larvae. Some of us are using drums to store water at home, but we must cover them up to prevent these mosquitos from breeding.”

However, Zika Virus is a mild disease transmitted to humans by the same species of mosquitoes that transmit dengue.

Symptoms include fever, red eye, rash, joint pain and it usually lasts for two to seven days.

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