ID :
289505
Sat, 06/15/2013 - 10:59
Auther :

Thailand observes ASEAN Dengue Day

BANGKOK, June 15 (TNA) - The 10-member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Thailand on Saturday observed the ASEAN Dengue Day 2013, aimed at informing people to fight against the deadly disease which has killed hundreds of thousands of victims in the region. In Thailand, Deputy Public Minister Dr. Cholanan Srikaew and Dr. Pornthep Siriwanarangsan, Director-General of Disease Control Department, jointly presided over the opening of the campaign under the motto called ASEAN Unity for Dengue-Free Community, at Bangkok’s Hua Lampong Railway Station. Dr. Cholanan told journalists that dengue fever is now found in tropical and humid countries in ASEAN and some nations in ASIA because the weather is favourable to the spread of dengue mosquitoes, carrier of the disease. ASEAN members have designated June 15 of every year as the ASEAN Dengue Day since 2011 with the objective of informing about 600 million of people living in ASEAN region to realise and to help solve the disease problem, he said. In Thailand alone, a total of 43,609 dengue victims have been found between January and June this year, up more than thrice during the same time last year. So far 50 victims died this year. It is projected that the number of patients would rise two or three times between this June and August due to the sharp increase of striped mosquitoes. Provincial public health offices have been instructed to set up a ‘war room’ to fight against the disease and to reduce the number of deaths, Dr. Cholanan added. (TNA)

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