THE Secretariat of the Pacific Community has stepped in to assist the Ministry of Health in the continuing campaign against the dengue fever epidemic.
The organisation has purchased insecticides to carry out mosquito control intervention for the next three months.
“This financial support from SPC is an unusual response related to the specific nature of the worsening dengue epidemic in Fiji and the type of request that was placed to us by Fiji Ministry of Health,’ said Dr Yvan Souarès, deputy director of SPC’s Public Health Division.
“We are not a donor agency; our role is to deliver capacity-building activities and scientific and/or expert advice to our 22 Pacific Island members.
“This contribution comes in response to Minister for Health Neil Sharma’s call for assistance from development partners to help Fiji respond to the dengue outbreak.”
In addition to this contribution, experts from SPC’s Public Health Division will continue to provide technical assistance and advice to the ministry in response to this outbreak in collaboration with their partners from the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
SPC recently repeatedly publicly voiced its concerns about the unprecedented and increasing pressure the whole Pacific Islands region is suffering from mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and zika virus infections.
Suva (Fiji Times)
