Health department launches Aarogya Bheri epidemic prevention plan in Ernakulam district

Kochi: In the wake of the spread of communicable diseases in the district at an alarming rate, the health department will implement the year-long Aarogya Bheri Epidemic Prevention Action Plan, starting this month.

An intensive drive to contain communicable diseases will be run in the first three months of the programme, which will be implemented in coordination with various govt departments and local bodies.The plan’s main objectives are to encourage public involvement in disease prevention, improve social interventions to enable people to maintain acquired healthy habits and strengthen preventive activities with public participation under local self-govt institutions, thereby effectively preventing communicable diseases.

For this, ward-level teams of ASHAs and health workers will be set up to intensify epidemic prevention activities such as source reduction, chlorination and spraying of larvicides.

Local self-govt institutions also intend to plan and implement special action plans for epidemic prevention.“Containment of communicable diseases is more difficult in urban areas. Urban and urbanised rural areas constitute Ernakulam district.

So, repeated measures to create awareness and steps to avoid the spread of such diseases are required. Our plan will focus on such initiatives,” Ernakulam district medical officer Dr R Shahirsha said.Awareness activities and epidemic prevention will be vigorously implemented during “intensive” months (July to Sept). Interventions will be carried out to make epidemic prevention more effective by creating awareness among the public that following healthy habits is the responsibility and duty of every citizen.

During this three-month period, the aim is to enable the public and families to follow health habits that are often forgotten or go unrecognised and to create the necessary social environment to bring healthy habits back to the people.“Health workers and ASHAs will go to households and impart training to the families on the measures to be taken for containing various types of communicable diseases. They will continue this process for the first three months.

By then, the family members themselves will be completely equipped to carry out such measures on their own,” Shahirsha said.Following the awareness and prevention activities in the intensive phase, interventions will be made to strengthen legal action against those who create situations conducive to the spread of epidemics and engage in activities that threaten public health.The active participation of local self-govt institutions, various govt departments, educational institutions, voluntary organisations, residents’ associations, commercial establishments, health workers, media and the public is essential for the success of the action plan.To prevent epidemics through collective effort, a workshop will be organised at Kochi Corporation Town Hall on Friday, attended by district, block and grama panchayat presidents, health standing committee chairpersons, medical officers from health and Ayush departments, health workers and public health experts. Higher education minister Roji M John will inaugurate the workshop.