The Environmental Health Division within the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs continues its sensitization on vector control in the south of the island.
Residents in the south of the island were called on to play an important role in preventing the breeding of vectors and reducing the threat of vector borne diseases.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Glensford Joseph says despite environmental health professionals providing valuable information on vector control, it is also the responsibility of residents to participate in integrated measures to eradicate vectors.
“Vector control while we use this opportunity to raise awareness with our engagement in the communities, vector control is a daily activity. Each one of us need to play our part in controlling vectors. Each one of us with the contribution that we make in our homes, in our immediate environment or yards, in the workplaces, collectively we can as a country reduce the population of vectors, more so mosquitoes and rodents and as a result reduce the incidence or the number of new cases of vector borne diseases that we are having in Saint Lucia.”
Assistant Chief Environmental Health Officer Cheryl Eugene-St. Romaine says it is important that community members work together to eliminate vector breeding grounds and protect themselves from vector borne diseases.
“I want to continue telling people that we can not do it alone, that is the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs. We need the residents. Together, we can do it. As our theme went, “Ansanm nou detwi veminn pou pli bon sante.” We need to engage each other, we need to support each other and that’s the only way we can eradicate these vectors.”
The Environmental Health Division encourages Saint Lucians to continue taking proactive measures to combat the growth of the vector population. – Fernelle Neptune