Confronted with the threat of dengue fever, Hong Kong will set up a steering committee to set directions for comprehensive anti-mosquito efforts, a government official announced here Saturday.
Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong explained that there is a need for the setting up of the steering committee because as long as the disease was found in Hong Kong's neighbors, the threat of dengue fever would not diminish.
"From the cases reported so far, dengue fever is likely to become endemic," he noted. The new steering committee would oversee the policy, strategies and directions of the campaign and the implementation work of the Inter-departmental Co-ordinating Committee on Dengue Fever, the official said.
The steering committee would be vested with the responsibility to set out timetable and work targets that each of the relevant bureaus and departments should achieve, Yeoh added.
The steering committee, chaired by Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Carrie Yau, would hold its first meeting next week, Yeoh said.
According to Yeoh, since the onset of the dengue fever, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has escalated its anti-mosquito campaign led by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and joined by other departments.
Noting that the fight against mosquitoes needed the fullest support of the community, Yeoh called on the private sector and all members of the public to play an active role in the prevention of mosquito problem as well as disseminating the anti-mosquito message: "Let's remove stagnant water - Eliminate mosquitoes for a healthy living.”
(Xinhua News Agency October 5, 2002)
