St. James Health Department Moves to Control Rat And Mosquito Population in Targeted Areas

The St. James Health Department has embarked on a special vector control programme to contain the mosquito and rodent population in Granville and surrounding areas.
Chief Public Health Inspector for the parish, Herbert Cooke, while addressing yesterday’s (Feb.14) monthly meeting of the St. James Parish Council, said that the programme, which started on Wednesday (Feb. 13), will continue for the next 10 days.
“Starting yesterday, the health department has acquired some additional help. We have employed 24 persons and we have formed about four teams out of those 24 persons. Yesterday was a day of training and today they are in the Granville area. We are looking at mosquito control as well as rodent control for the Granville, Retirement and Irwin areas among others,” he stated.
Public health personnel working in this specialized programme can be easily identified as they will be wearing shirts marked ‘Vector Control’.
The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) is financing the programme and at the end of the 10 days, the Health Department, will continue monitoring and control activities.
According to Mr. Cooke, such targeted interventions are usually implemented, when there is evidence of rodent infestation, or any case of rat-borne diseases. He said that the Health Department has been getting a lot of complaints about the population of rodents in Granville and surrounding areas.
“The last major intervention that was done was in 2006 when we did a survey around the city of Montego Bay and we found that there was indeed a heavy infestation and we carried out a comprehensive programme, which was noted to be very effective,” he informed.
The Chief Public Health Inspector told the meeting that in addition to the specialized vector control programme, the St. James Health Department will be building some 25 pit latrines for needy persons in the targeted areas.