Students poorly informed, teen dengue victims rise

Abdul Khalik and Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Bogor

Students of State Senior High School (SMUN) 24 in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, were unsure as to the origins of dengue fever outbreaks.

"The mosquitoes lay eggs in dirty water, such as in a gutter. That's why we must clean it immediately," Amir said confidently.

He had apparently missed the fact that the disease has nothing to do with trash and dirty water, because the aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carry the dengue virus lay their eggs on the surface of relatively unpolluted, standing water.

Don't blame Amir for his misleading information, because several teachers The Jakarta Post talked to on Thursday had little knowledge on the disease and how to prevent it.

A teacher, who had also confused dengue fever prevention measures with garbage treatment, acknowledged that the school had not conducted any activities to educate students on dengue fever.

"No officials from the health community center or health agency has come here to inform us about dengue fever. However, we have worked with the sanitation agency to teach students how to recycle and reuse garbage," she said.

Other students said they were relieved that their neighborhoods had been fumigated the day before, when a neighbor had contracted the disease. Others were proud to report that they had put anti-larvae chemicals into their wash basins, or bak mandi.

"We know this stuff from TV, but the school hasn't told us what to do to prevent the disease," said Robby.

With statistics showing that more than 60 percent of dengue fever patients are children and teenagers, educational campaigns at schools on prevention measures should be made imperative.

Senior high school students in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta and in Cawang, East Jakarta, were similarly uninformed.

"What I know about dengue fever is that we will have a high temperature for a long time. But, I don't know anything about prevention measures," said Daniel from SMUN 14, East Jakarta.

A Suluh high school student in Pasar Minggu was surprised when he was told that anyone could catch the disease, even his family. "But my house is located inside a very clean complex and there's hardly any garbage there," said Iqbal, who lives in a South Jakarta housing estate.

Director General of Communicable Diseases Umar Fachmi Ahmadi at the Ministry of Health has repeatedly called on the public to throw out standing water and stressed that fumigating the neighborhood would only kill adult mosquitoes and not their virus-carrying larvae or nymphs, but it seems the message is not getting through.

Jakarta Health Agency spokeswoman Evi Zelvino said 3,150 people were suffering from the disease and 27 had died as of Wednesday. Of the deceased, 23 were teenagers and children.

In Depok, the number of dengue cases had increased to 142, from only 52 cases in the same period last year. Four residents have died from the disease. The most infected Depok districts are Pancoran Mas, Cimanggis and Sukmajaya.

In Bogor, 42 people were admitted with dengue fever to city- run Cibinong hospital. Four children under the age of 10 have died.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said on Thursday that he would disburse Rp 150 million (US$18,000) worth of equipment and blood pouches to each community health center in the capital to help handle the outbreak and to provide free treatment for poor patients, "as long as they presented proof of poverty in a letter from their community or neighborhood unit chief".

The poor are entitled to free medical treatment through a national welfare scheme. Meanwhile, the central government has launched a free-of-charge program for all dengue fever patients.