The Solid Waste Management Unit in the Central Water and Sewerage authority, CWSA, has highlighted the link between indiscriminate dumping of garbage and the prevalence of Dengue Fever in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The issue was raised by the CWSA’s Collections Superintendent, Gregg Francois while on radio this week.
“The Ministry of Health has been talking about the fact that we have an epidemic of dengue fever. The cases are greater than in some previous years and right now most people probably know someone who has had dengue fever. A lot of these types of illnesses are what we bring on ourselves. When we block our drains, culverts and so forth, there can be pockets of water that would remain there and allow for the breeding of mosquitoes.”
He goes on to highlight the correlation between dumping and the breeding of mosquitoes, specifically the Aedes aegypti.
“One of the best kind of containers for the breeding of mosquitoes and in particular the aedes aegypti mosquito, is the tyre, the tyres that we have on our vehicles. There are many persons who would dispose of these tyres in the bushes, because remember when you have rain, you have all of this overgrowth and it’s easy to make things disappear, so they throw these things in the bushes and they are hidden.”
