Hundreds of people have been hired by the National Conservation Commission (NCC) to scale up its national cleaning programme to help in the fight against the dengue fever outbreak.
NCC general manager Ryan Als confirmed to Barbados TODAY that 300 temporary workers have been brought in to clear “nuisance lots” and “problem areas” of rats and the mosquitoes that carry the dengue fever virus. The focus of the cleaning programme, he said, was to debush government and private properties.
“There were several areas across the island that had become overgrown with bush and were posing a health hazard to residents as they harboured vermin and were a habitat for mosquitoes,” Als said.
“We have issues with vermin and mosquitoes, especially during the rainy season, so we are clearing the roadways and overgrown spaces, whether they belong to the government or otherwise. We needed some assistance in the short term to ensure we clear these nuisance areas, so for December and January we have 300 workers assisting us to deal with the large number of areas in need of maintenance.
“So across the island, we will be cleaning several nuisance lots that have been identified by the Ministry of Health as problem areas given high reports of rodents or mosquitoes.”
Under what has been dubbed a short-term maintenance programme, scores of young people have been included in the 300-strong workforce, Als said, adding that the NCC was already getting positive feedback from the public about the teams’ work.
Last week, the Ministry of Health announced that Barbados recorded two dengue-related deaths. There was one confirmed case, a 70-year-old man, and a suspected case of a 48-year-old man.
Up to December 22, the total confirmed cases for 2023 were 428 while there were 2 105 clinically suspected cases.
The dengue fever outbreak was confirmed in October by health officials, prompting the Vector Control Unit to reintroduce its fogging programme after a three-year hiatus.
Asked if there would be any opportunity for the workers’ stint to be extended beyond two months, Als replied: “We cannot hire all the resources we want all the time [but] there are periods – the rainy season – where the growth is aggressive and it is during that peak time that we really need the workers. So you have to go according to the season and the requirements. Also, to extend the programme, budgetary factors would have to be taken into consideration and I cannot speak to that at this stage.
“However, we realised that over the past few years, the grass has been growing a lot faster. Since the ashfall, there has been accelerated growth. I’m not sure if it also has to do with the heat we got this year as well or the change in rainfall patterns, but we know that climate change is having an impact on the environment and it can be a combination of factors. So I agree we need to increase the number of troops sometimes to tackle these problems.”
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
