Keep it clean, beat dengue

Story Updated: Jul 21, 2010 at 2:56 AM ECT

We are coming to the climaxing days of the Local Government election even as the country faces a challenge that can only be solved by collective local action. While the Government has its role to play if we are to minimise the threat posed by dengue, it is the citizens in their various communities who, with a collective response to the mosquito menace, are best placed to do so.

Indeed, it is the Local Government rather than the national arm of the State that is primarily charged to deploy the men, women and machines required to control, if not eradicate, the mosquito population that has, reportedly, already killed dozens in the Caribbean even as it has put further pressure on regional hospitals, Trinidad and Tobago's included.

Both at the top and the bottom, then, the opportunity has presented itself for the best- or worst - illustrations of Local Government in action. If, at the level of the corporations, the equipment and personnel required to rid our public spaces of the mosquitoes' larvae are sent out with dispatch and the desire to do a thorough job the judgment made can only be positive. If they aren't then the negative will hold. If, at the level of the communities, householders resolve to keep their surroundings clean and act on that resolve here, too, local action will add up to a huge plus. If they do not and treat the problem with the usual laissez-faire we will have to count that as a double minus since it will amount to being irresponsible with regards to not only our own health, and even perhaps life, but our neighbours', as well. Sometimes, even if the development is not planned, there is conjecture. This is one of the times. When Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced her plan for the "Clean and Beautiful T&T'' campaign nobody had died from dengue and while its presence is customary in the rainy season the odds were not on an outbreak. Now, however, there have been deaths — and one hopes this new administration will have the self-confidence and good sense not to play fast and loose with the fatality figures — and the unusual weather does provide the environment for an outbreak. To be forewarned, however, is to be forearmed so there can be no doubt that preventing the worst depends on what we continue to do during the still continuing "C & B'' campaign. Responsible behaviour in the instant matter will be further evidence that Trinidadians and Tobagonians have matured enough to take control of their lives at the local level, whatever the mandate we have given this new Government to take the lead at the national. Source: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/98900434.html