|
Global grant project impressive in combating dengue fever
A Rotary Foundation Global Grant project has proved highly effective
in preventing the spread of dengue fever in a community in
Indonesia. The one-year project, the first funded by a global grant
under the Future Vision pilot, began on 1 July 2010, carried out by
Rotarians in districts 3400 (Indonesia) and 7980 (Connecticut, USA).
In the second half of the project, members of the Rotary Club of
Solo Kartini, Indonesia, which came up with the idea for the effort,
educated residents to empty and scrub the tubs twice a week, close
the lid on water containers, and bury waste that can collect water.
The club also oversaw a group of monitors, who were paid a small
stipend to visit participating homes weekly to check on compliance
with the procedures.
Case count
As a result of the project, the incidence of dengue fever in
Kadipiro fell to four cases in the first six months of this year,
compared with 43 cases in all of 2010. The percentage of tubs
infested with larvae averaged 1.4 percent, compared with 9.7 percent
for tubs in homes not included in the project.
“This is very significant, as the community went from being highly
endemic to nonendemic,” says Paul Spiekermann, a physician
specializing in tropical diseases and a member of the Rotary Club of
Westport, Connecticut.
He also noted that chemicals, which could have proved hazardous to
public health and the environment, were not used to treat tubs and
other water retaining areas to interrupt the mosquitoes’ breeding
cycle.
Dengue affects 50 million people annually and causes about 22,000
deaths, according to the World Health Organization. "The disease is
very debilitating, and drug treatment or vaccination is not
available," says Spiekermann, who chairs his club's grants
committee.
The project, which supports Rotary’s disease prevention and
treatment area of focus received a US$15,660 Foundation global
grant, $7,740 in District Designated Fund allocations from the two
districts, and $15,844 raised by participating clubs.
Key to the effort’s success was the collaboration between the
international and local Rotary clubs, Surakarta’s public health
department, and the Kadipiro community, say the project’s sponsor
Rotarians. They also point to the cooperation between the clubs and
the global grant coordinator at RI World Headquarters in Evanston,
Illinois, USA.
Model project
In July, the Solo Kartini club presented project data to the mayor
of Surakarta, who is interested in expanding the effort to include
other areas of the city. The project’s effective monitoring and
training components, along with its proven health benefits to the
community, will help make the effort sustainable.
"There are members of the community who are less fortunate [and]
live in marginal areas, far from healthy and proper social
conditions," says Danarsih Santosa, a member of the Solo Kartini
club. "As Rotarians, we feel obliged to help them improve their
quality of life. This project is expected to become a model to
reduce and possibly eradicate dengue in similar target areas around
Surakarta and [elsewhere] in Indonesia where it is endemic."
Note: Photo shows
Ritje Rihatinah (left), past governor of
District 3400, and Danarsih Santosa, a member of the Rotary Club of
Solo Kartini, Indonesia, inspecting a tub as part of the global
grant project to prevent the spread of dengue fever.
Photo courtesy of Rotary Club of Solo
Kartini |
The
effort helped disrupt the breeding cycle of mosquitoes that transmit
the disease in Kadipiro, a community of almost 50,000 people near
Surakarta, Central Java. During the project’s first six months,
contractors installed white ceramic tiling on the interior surfaces
of cement water tubs in more than 1,400 homes, making it easier to
spot and remove gray mosquito larvae spawned in the tubs.