In response to a request from the government of Pakistan through its High Commission in Colombo, the Sri Lankan
government will be assisting Pakistan’s fight against dengue virus, by sending 11 member expert team on 13th of September 2011.
The Sri Lankan expert team of dengue eradication will be staying in Pakistan for 10-15 days and will be carrying out the need assessment and training of the Pakistan officials. In addition, the expert team will also be carrying along the equipment and insecticides to tackle the out break.
Looking at the growing rate of dengue patients in the Punjab province of Pakistan, the High Commission of Pakistan in Colombo requested the Sri Lankan Government to provide trained personnel to visit Pakistan for assistance and training of Pakistani medical and paramedical staff to help combat the disease.
Resultantly, in a kind gesture of friendship, the President of the Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Hon Mahinda Rajapakha personally assured the High Commissioner of Pakistan HE Seema Illahi Baloch of his government’s commitment to assist the government and people of Pakistan to overcome the disease outbreak.
The High Commission of Pakistan HE Seema Ilahi Baloch also today met the Sri Lankan Minister of Health Mr. Maithri Pala Sirisena along with Sri Lankan Senior Government Minister Mr. A.H.M. Fowzi and other experts at the Ministry of Health Sri Lankan. During the meeting the plans and details for the visit of the Sri Lankan expert team were
discussed and finalized.
In recent weeks, the dengue fever has rapidly spread in various parts of Pakistan, however, Punjab province is the worst hit. The first case of Dengue fever in Pakistan was reported in year 1994 in Karachi.
After that this disease spread slowly and in 2006 there were large number of patients affected with Dengue fever. Since then, this time it is one of the major outbreaks of the disease so far in which over 3000 cases are reported from the provincial capital Lahore alone.
For dengue eradication in Pakistan, public health officers are keen to learn from the experience of Sri Lanka. After a 10-year peak in 2009, the Sri Lankan government declared control of the vector-borne disease a national priority.
The Sri Lankan government launched an enormous community-based campaign to check the spread of dengue fever in the country. The efforts to clean up breeding grounds and spread awareness through TV channels, billboards and school children were launched.
Another measure introduced by the government of Sri Lanka was the initiation of a campaign that included fines against people and businesses that fail to remove mosquito breeding areas. With these efforts they overcame the epidemic and in the process developed the expertise to handle the situation in the aftermath of any similar dengue out break.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka being located in the South Asian region and being members of SAARC and the United Nations are mutually important for each other. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 1948, the two countries have consistently maintained close, cordial and mutually supportive relationship in multifarious sectors.
They have been helpful to each other during difficult times. The two countries share commonality of views on various issues of mutual interest.
