The Jeddah Mayor’s Office has urged greater cooperation from the public, the National Water Company and other bodies to combat dengue fever, saying that it also wants to “involve the private sector in the battle across the city”.
“Dengue fever is difficult to tackle without the full cooperation of everyone involved, and that begins with the public – an essential partner – and further includes government departments, the mayoralty, and the ministries of Agriculture and Health,” Ali Al-Qahtani, Deputy Mayor for Services, told Okaz/Saudi Gazette.
“The mayoralty has introduced many programs to produce both temporary and permanent solutions to it, but it is not the sole party responsible for dengue fever.”
Al-Qahtani said that the most significant issue was the drainage systems in some parts of the city. Districts such as Al-Musa’eda and Quwaizah regularly witness groundwater and water from drains rising to flood public thoroughfares.
“Jeddah is located on a lake of water, with not enough sewage or drainage works to cope.
We want to involve the private sector to improve work to address dengue fever in various areas of the city,” he said. “Poor drain and sewage systems in east Jeddah districts mean the situation is set to continue unless the National Water Company carries out works as soon as possible.”
Seeking to refute complaints from the public claiming that certain areas have received more attention than others and that spraying efforts are insufficient, Al-Qahtani said the mayoralty “does not discriminate in its efforts and addresses all districts alike as best it can”.
Instead, he said that the public was “not cooperating with field teams”.
“We need better and more reliable cooperation from the public, and greater understanding from them for the work being done by field teams sent out to combat dengue fever, so that they are permitted entrance into people’s homes to spray.
People also need to stop storing water for long periods of time in their houses, and repair leaks from air-conditioning units that provide fertile breeding grounds for mosquitoes.”
Al-Qahtani added that some of the many reports received from the public concerning stagnant areas of water “might not be 100 percent correct”.
Reports from four months ago, he said, should be compared to more recent ones to see the vast difference in the number of dengue fever cases.
“Previously they recorded over 150 cases a week, whereas now there are fewer than 10,” he said.
“This is down to the work of the mayoralty in tandem with other authorities, and the direct supervision of Jeddah governor Prince Misha’l Bin Majed who holds a weekly meeting with all relevant bodies to look at progress, as well as the concern of Mayor Hani Abu Ras, who is focused on ridding the most badly affected areas of the disease.”
Public concern at the dengue fever threat has increased following forecasts for rain in Jeddah in the next few weeks.
Saudi Gazette