Kingston, 23 January 2020 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has said that she’s satisfied with the preparatory works for the three-day national dengue clean up which begins on Friday.

Minister Grange — who is leading the coordination of the dengue clean up through the National Labour Day Secretariat — said:

“The preparations have gone well and I anticipate that we will all work in our homes, communities, schools and work places to find and destroy mosquito breeding sites.

“Dengue is a serious disease that has the potential to affect every constituency, every community, every school, every home and every person. Therefore, it is critical that all us — each member of parliament, each councillor, each person — get involved in efforts to find and destroy the mosquitoes that transmit dengue.

This national effort requires all of us to play a part.”

In keeping with the Labour Day format, national and parish projects have been established.

The national projects will be undertaken in the communities of Grants Pen and Rae Town in the corporate area. Minister Grange says those two communities are among 36 from across the country that have been listed as critical, meaning they are most in need of intervention to destroy mosquitoes and their breeding sites.

Minister Grange also announced parish projects, to be led by Municipal Corporations, as follows:

Westmoreland - Grange Hill
Hanover - Sandy Bay
St James - Salt Spring
Trelawny - Clarks Town
St Ann - Exchange
St Mary - Annotto Bay 
Portland - Manchioneal Town
St Thomas - Golden Valley
St Catherine - Buck Town near Gordon Pen
St Elizabeth - Junction
Manchester - Craig Head
Clarendon - Aenon Town 

Minister Grange said the work at national and parish projects will focus on finding and destroying mosquitoes and their breeding sites by removing bulky waste, bushing overgrown vegetation, and filling out depressed areas where mosquitoes are likely to breed.

The Minister said a “critical part of the intervention will be our interaction with residents where we will be encouraging and showing them how to cover drums and other water holding containers; and emptying or destroying containers, as necessary.”

The national clean up will take place over three days — January 24, 25 and 26 —under the theme: Mosquitoes wanted dead, not alive!

END