Anti-dengue drive to boost volunteer numbers

Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu launched the nation-wide dengue education and prevention drive yesterday.

Over the next two months, about 2,000 grassroots volunteers from the People's Association (PA) will be trained by the National Environment Agency (NEA) to be "Dengue Fighters" - part of the Anti-Dengue Education and Prevention Drive by the PA and its grassroots organisations.

The volunteers will help to "supplement" the NEA officers, who can focus their efforts in areas where there are bigger outbreaks, Ms Fu said.

"As the number of active clusters grow, we have to focus on the real big ones so we need additional and ongoing help from the community," she said.

"They (volunteers) are actually a nicer face to the residents because they are familiar faces... I think they will bring about the message in a more friendly way."

The volunteers, accompanied by at least one NEA officer, will go door-to-door handing out checklists across 87 constituencies from now until October, reported The Straits Times Online.

The checklist includes steps that residents can take to keep their homes and neighbourhoods mosquito-free, such as turning over unused pails and removing stagnant water.

Ms Fu also taught dengue prevention measures to 300 volunteers from the PA's Community Emergency Response Team at the anti-dengue drive in Yishun.

Since the beginning of the year, some 11,600 dengue cases have already been reported.

This article was first published on July 27, 2014.
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