Dhaka North to earmark Tk121.84cr to fight dengue menace

The Dhaka North City corporation is planning to stage a renewed assault on the mosquito menace, earmarking Tk121.84 crore or about 2.32% of its total budget on mosquito control in the new financial year 2023-24.

Under the new allocation, Tk45 crore will be used to purchase medicines, Tk30 crore on mosquito control activities through outsourcing and Tk30 crore for the purchase of mosquito control equipment.

In addition, Tk7.34 crore is to be spent on cleanliness efforts and awareness building for dengue control.

This year, the budget for Dhaka North City Corporation has been set at Tk5269.45 crore, according to the city corporation's budget announcement press conference held on Monday (24 July). 

The Dhaka North's revised budget for last fiscal was Tk2950.98 crore, out of which it spent Tk74.84 crore for mosquito control.

In the financial year 2022-23, the revenue collection of Dhaka North City Corporation was Tk1,180.90 crore, which is the highest income in the history of DNCC. 

The total revenue in the new financial year is estimated at Tk1830.88 crore.

As part of the effort to thwart mosquito-borne diseases, the city corporation (DNCC) has also decided to distribute one lakh books related to mosquito awareness to all primary educational institutions - including primary schools and madrasas – that fall under the purview of the city's northern part.

DNCC Mayor Md Atiqul Islam unveiled the cover of this book titled "Moshar Kamor Khotikor" (Mosquito bites are harmful) in the DNCC Conference Room in the city's Gulshan-2 on Sunday (23 July).

This 12-page book, which is a Bengali translation of a book distributed among children in Miami Dade County, USA, contains awareness quotes along with relevant illustrations.

Mayor Atiqul Islam said, "We want to inform our children that mosquito bites are harmful so that they can be our super heroes fighting mosquitoes.

"If children can learn about mosquitoes and protect themselves from being bitten, we can largely prevent mosquito-borne diseases. It will have an overall impact on the situation when children will be made aware of the harmfulness of mosquito breeding grounds."

After the distribution of the first printed lot, the city corporation will print more of this book to distribute them among the children.

Meanwhile, the government has initiated a substantial Tk1,288 crore project to control the mosquito population and create a dengue outbreak prediction model.

The project will be implemented in the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and its adjacent two municipalities, Savar and Tarabo, as well as in the Chattogram City Corporation (CCC).

A total of 7,175 dengue patients, including 4,149 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) reported 32,977 dengue cases and 25,626 recoveries this year till Sunday (23 July) morning.

Earlier, the country logged 281 dengue deaths in 2022 - the highest on record after 179 deaths recorded in 2019. Also, it recorded 62,423 dengue cases and 61,971 recoveries last year.