World Health Day, 7 April 2014

Vector-borne disease: Small Bite, Big threat!

This year's World Health Day is a campaign to raise awareness about the threat of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue.  The goals of World Health Day 2014 are to:

• Provide communities with information on how to protect themselves against vector-borne diseases
• Target families living in areas where diseases are commonly transmitted by vectors
• Urge ministries of health to implement measures to improve the protection of their population
• Promote improved integrated surveillance in countries where vector-borne diseases are a threat.

At the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) we encourage our members to take control of their health by ensuring they protect their wellbeing as well as those of their families. Vector-borne diseases is the theme for World Health Day 2014 which is celebrated every 7th of April and this article forms part of the GEMS commitment to providing our members with information and support in order to help them live a healthy life.

Vector-borne diseases are infectious diseases spread by intermediate organisms, such as insects and snails that transmit viruses, parasites, and bacteria to humans. These diseases cause a high burden of illness and death for individuals, their families, and communities, especially in poorer countries; they lead to school absenteeism, worsening of poverty, a negative impact on the economic productivity, high health costs and overloaded health systems in countries.   Vector-borne diseases exercising significant impact in the Americas are mainly malaria, dengue, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, and trachoma.

Protect yourself and your environment. Vector-borne diseases can be prevented by:

• Wearing clothing that acts as a barrier to exposure to bites
• Using mechanisms to keep vectors out of houses such as screens on doors, windows, and eaves
• Reducing breeding sites near houses or in communities by:
  • covering water storage containers,
  • eliminating puddles and drainage of places where water accumulates,
  • eliminating unusable containers where water pools; and
  • controlling refuse in water and gardens

Sources:
1. What is World Health Day?' World Health Organization (WHO), www.1000cities.who.int/page/what-is-world-health-day.
2. WHO campaigns, http://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2014/en/