Efficient Bahrain municipal campaign in Bahrain against disease

By Captain Mahmood Al Mahmood

Here is yet another reason we should not be using thin, onetime-use plastic products, whether they are shopping bags or disposable drinking water bottles.

When thrown away into the garbage, they clog drains and hold little pools of stagnant water where mosquitoes and flies breed.

These buzzing carriers of disease are today a global health nuisance.

Experts say they hitch rides in aircraft interiors and travel the world so that even in climates where they are not normally present, they appear over time.

With winter rains approaching in Bahrain, the government has taken the correct step to attack mosquito breeding areas and nip this problem in the bud.

Malar - ia, which is spread b y mosquitoes is a debilitating disease and has felled many developing countries because of loss of productivity and citizen health.

The campaign against mosquitoes is part of Bahrain’s well-crafted approach to health matters.

It is not just a question of ensuring a network of health centres and hospitals.

A healthy environment that does not breed illness is vital to complement healthcare delivery.

In the case of malaria and its terrible partner disease dengue, increasing resistance of the malarial germs to antimalarial drugs and of the Anopheles vector mosquito to insecticides presents great challenges to those battling the diseases.

This is why Bahrain’s pre-emptive action of destroying mosquito breeding grounds is so timely and necessary.

It also shows the efficiency of the Bahraini municipal authorities in tackling the problems of a growing urban space.

This is not just a healthcare matter but a statement of our Kingdom’s approach to progress and development and an assurance of future good health.

Malaria causes over two million deaths annually — one every 15 to 30 seconds — killing mainly children under five years of age in Sub-Saharan Africa.

There has been greatly increasing support for malaria research and control over the past decade providing hope for the conquest of this disease.