What 'success' is the mayor talking about?
We are surprised to see the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) claim success in their fight against dengue last year, despite 2023 seeing record numbers of dengue-related cases and deaths. The number of dengue patients in Dhaka, he reportedly said, "halved" last year compared to 2019 because of "proper" mosquito control measures—even though data from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) suggests the opposite. According to the DGHS, 1,01,354 people were diagnosed with dengue in the country in 2019. Among them, 51,762 patients were from Dhaka. Four years later, in 2023, a record 3,21,179 patients were diagnosed with the disease in the country, while the number in Dhaka was 1,10,008.
That means, the number of Dhaka's dengue patients in 2023 were actually double that of 2019. Why then would the mayor make such a claim? In so doing, he has neither furnished any data collected by the DSCC nor referred to any other credible source of information. To his credit, however, he did mention that the task of controlling dengue becomes difficult if misleading information is given. But that is exactly what he himself seems to be doing, and the timing couldn't be more unfortunate.
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Local experts as well as international bodies like the World Health Organization have warned that like 2023, this year too could see huge numbers of dengue patients unless the authorities take timely and appropriate measures. It is, therefore, essential that the relevant authorities take drastic measures to prevent a repeat of 2023.
The importance of such measures, with the monsoon season not far away, cannot be emphasised enough. Already, a number of people have died of dengue, including three in the 24 hours until Wednesday morning, taking this year's death toll to 32, according to the DGHS. Incidentally, all three were from the DSCC areas. Therefore, we urge our mayor to shun premature celebrations and start taking meaningful steps to make sure that his organisation does not fail in its dengue prevention efforts this year, like it did last year.
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