Three communities, Old Braeton and Reeds Pen in Portmore and Rivoli in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, will be the focus of the National Cleanup day activities this Saturday February 20. The Ministry of Health’s initiative dubbed “Operation Mosquito Search and Destroy” was officially launched today (February 17, 2016) at the St. Jago Park Health Center in Spanish Town.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Winston De La Haye highlighted the timelines and the schedule for the day for the Ministry of Health team along with vector control workers, stakeholders and partners “We will be meeting at 9am at the Portmore Pines plaza then fan out with the team in the communities of Old Braeton and Reeds Pen. We meet again at 1pm at the Parish Council office at Emancipation Square in Spanish Town and the team will then fan out in Rivoli”.
Although this National Cleanup day will focus on three main areas, every Jamaican is being asked to actively and consistently search for and destroy mosquito breeding sites. The focus is also to have everyone gather bulky waste for removal by the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA). Dr. De La Haye stated that there will be other National Cleanup day activities in other parishes.
Dr. De La Haye said the National Cleanup day activities will be done “with the support of our national response team which comprises the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), the NSWMA, JEEP, JDF, JCF, Parish Councils, Social Development Commission (SDC), Ministry of Education among many others”. Patrick Watson, SDC national planning coordinator said he is “urging other agencies to help get the message out and get the message totally accepted by communities”.
Dr. De La Haye reiterated that “this is a multi-departmental affair as no one Ministry is able to address the situation and more importantly it’s a preventable illness because if you don’t get bitten, you can’t get ill”.