KUALA LUMPUR: Some 59,057 dengue cases were recorded from January to July 2 this year, says Dr Zaliha Mustafa.
The Health Minister said this is more than double the number of dengue cases recorded during the same period last year (24,743), marking an increase of 138.7% in the number of dengue cases.
She added that Selangor was the state with the highest number of cases with 29,382 recorded from January to July 2 this year, compared to 16,133 during the same period in 2022.
Dr Zaliha then said that 40 dengue-related deaths were recorded nationwide between January and July 2 this year, marking a 122.22% increase compared to the same period from January to July in 2022, in which 18 deaths were recorded.
In tandem with this, the Health Minister also launched the One Hour Malaysia Clean Up programme aimed at ensuring the cleanliness of surroundings alongside removing potential Aedes mosquito breeding grounds.
“This aims to engage the public in communal cleaning activities on the fourth Saturday of each month,” says Dr Zaliha.
In conjunction with the Gotong-Royong Mega 1.0 Perangi Aedes programme, Dr Zaliha also said that people should spend 10 minutes every week to destroy all potential Aedes breeding grounds in their premises – especially those living in Selangor.
“Target locations are residential areas, workplaces and education institutions, with activities done based on the community’s own settings,” she added in her speech at the launch of the maiden Madani Afiat programme here on Sunday (July 9).
On the Madani Afiat programme, Dr Zaliha said it is aimed at bridging the gap between leaders and the public through the context of public health.
“This involves house visits involving the Health Ministry leadership, community leaders and healthcare teams,” she said.
“It also provides related agencies with the opportunity to join the Health Ministry in conducting localised activities as a means to spread information on existing health programmes conducted by the Ministry for target groups,” added Dr Zaliha.
The programme also aims to raise public awareness on the need to conduct health screenings to detect and prevent non-communicable diseases.
“This is in line with the health reforms stated in the Health White Paper,” she added.
Also present at the event was Selangor caretaker Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.
