Students bite back in dengue war<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
It was half past nine in the morning. Mujtahid, a student at a
\npublic health university, rushed into the Pasar Minggu
\nsubdistrict health clinic in South Jakarta to inform the doctor
\non duty that groups of students were ready to start their regular
\nFriday battle against the Aedes aegypti mosquito.<\/p>\n
\"Doctor, my friends are waiting in the community secretariat.
\nSome groups have already gone down to neighborhoods in the north.
\nWe must hurry, I'm afraid we're going to be late,\" worried
\nMujtahid, who had been appointed group coordinator from the Hamka
\nMuhammadiyah University, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The voluntary task force consists of students, a doctor, and a
\nconcerned people from the neighborhood. When they got together
\nMujtahid gave a short briefing to remind them how to approach
\nresidents in order to involve them in the effort to eradicate
\nbreeding places for the mosquito that carries the dengue fever
\nvirus.<\/p>\n
\"Okay, we shall start from neighborhood five. Are we ready?\"
\nshouted Mujtahid to motivate his fellow students.<\/p>\n
Mujtahid was among 150 students from three different
\nuniversities in Jakarta volunteering for the weekly campaign
\nagainst dengue in neighborhoods in the Pasar Minggu and West
\nPejaten subdistricts of South Jakarta, every Friday, from 9:30
\na.m. to 10 a.m.<\/p>\n
Students from various universities and nursing academies in
\nJakarta have joined forces to battle dengue fever, which has
\ninfected over 3,000 Jakartans and caused 21 deaths since the
\nbeginning of January. The volunteers have been encouraging
\npeople, especially those living in endemic areas, to apply a few
\nsimple actions to fight the disease.<\/p>\n
Firstly, the students invite neighborhood and community
\nleaders to sound the neighborhood alarms to announce their
\narrival.<\/p>\n
Then, going door to door, the students hand out brochures,
\ninforming people about the three steps they should take to
\neliminate the Aedes aegypti mosquito's breeding places. They then
\ntake brief tours of homes to help residents identify problem
\nareas and to show them how to take preventive actions.<\/p>\n
The students also put up posters and banners in public areas,
\nwhich they hope will make more people aware of how to fight
\ndengue fever.<\/p>\n
According to Mujtahid, most people focus on the environment in
\nand around houses and tend to forget that other places, such as
\nschools, old theaters or warehouses, also provide fertile
\nbreeding grounds for the mosquitoes that lay their eggs in clear
\nstanding water.<\/p>\n
\"Last week, I found several empty cans and plastic containers
\ndumped at the back of a schoolyard in Pasar Minggu. Inside, there
\nwere dozens of mosquito larvae,\" said Mujtahid.<\/p>\n
Another student said that she had seen a very bad mosquito
\nbreeding place during her volunteer work.<\/p>\n
\"There was a small house I went into, located in an alley in a
\nslum area. The house was so damp and dimly-lit, and I think the
\nowner of the house was kind of sick. When I checked the water tub
\nand other water containers, I found hundreds of mosquito larvae.
\nAfter seeing that, I couldn't eat,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Yunita, a fourth year student at the Department of Public
\nHealth of the University of Indonesia in Depok, along with seven
\nuniversity friends who also joined the campaign, said that many
\npeople still lacked awareness and had little concern about
\nfighting the annual dengue epidemics.<\/p>\n
\"We checked back at some of the houses that were full of
\nmosquito breeding places the first time, and they still have
\nthem. That showed that people living there weren't listening to
\nour advice,\" said Yunita. (001)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/students-bite-back-in-dengue-war-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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