Keeping dengue at bay in Sri Lanka (video)
The community in Colombo played a key role in the initial phase of our releases in their city. In this video, we meet them and learn more about what it would mean to eradicate dengue in Sri Lanka.
Ask people in Sri Lanka about dengue, and the first word you’ll hear is 'fear'. Locals say the mosquito-borne disease can strike anyone, anywhere, anytime. The danger is always there.
"If there was a way to not destroy the mosquito while also minimizing the risk of being infected by dengue, we would happily embrace it."
There is no pill or vaccine to protect you from dengue. No full-proof remedy to cure you from it. If you are lucky, your symptoms may be mild. But for many, it’s the worst sickness they’ve ever experienced. Worst still, it can be fatal.
Everyone you speak to in Sri Lanka knows someone who has borne the brunt of dengue.
Thilaka Hettikodahe who lives in the capital, Colombo, says her 10-year-old son had dengue several times and was once hospitalized because of it. Her brother’s child barely survived dengue, and a neighbour’s child died from it.
“I faced a lot of difficulties…I was very scared. I even fainted once,” says Thilaka when speaking about her son’s illness.
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Others speak of adult relatives debilitated by dengue, unable to work and look after their families, and barely able to walk even 1-2 months after they have recovered.
“If your father or mother gets infected then who is going to take care of the children? How are they going to earn their living?...Being infected with dengue is a disaster,” concludes Kavindya Candappa, a woman who has seen the impacts of dengue up close as the World Mosquito Program’s Field Coordinator in Sri Lanka.
So just how severe is dengue in Sri Lanka?
Statistics show that in recent years dengue cases have surged with more than 40,000 cases most years in the last decade, and 186,000 cases in 2017. The disease has certainly emerged as a serious public health concern throughout the country.
Buddhist monk Kalaganwaththe Silalankara Thero puts it this way: his country has had a “mosquito problem” forever. “Everyone fears dengue so much…This tiny dengue mosquito can take someone’s life easily…Only because of COVID-19 that people have forgotten dengue for the moment. I think dengue is deadlier than COVID-19,” he adds.
