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Thursday, May 31, 2007 – Chief Medical Officer Dr Josiah Rambally is
warning that without proper vector control Saint Lucians can be exposed to
various illnesses, and singled out Malaria as a big problem.
Dr. Rambally's comments came as he addressed a prize giving ceremony for
students who participated in a schools essay competition organised by the
Department of Environmental Health.
“As a matter of fact Malaria is present in 103 countries and affecting more than
one billion people and causing between one to five million people to die each
year. Malaria can pass from the pregnant mother to the foetus in about five
percent of newborns whose mothers are affected. Malaria can also be transmitted
by blood transfusion, needle stick injury, sharing of needles by the infected
drug addicts or organ transplant,” Dr Rambally said.
Meanwhile Chief Environmental Health officer Wenn Gabriel impressed upon the
students the need for them to help sensitise the public about the hazards of
poor environmental habits stressing that dengue continues to be a threat to
Saint Lucians for various reasons.
“We have the vector, and by vector I mean we have the agent that can spread
dengue from one place to another. They are at numbers that could sustain or
maintain infection. That is if you have say just a few mosquitoes it may not be
able to maintain the disease in the population but we have the number of
mosquitoes that can maintain the level of the disease in the population in Saint
Lucia,” said Gabriel.
The essay competition was held under the theme “ Stop the bite” and was judged
in two categories, primary and secondary. The winner of the primary schools
category is Steffie De Freitas of the Delcer Combined School. Suzanne
Charlemagne, also of the Delcer Combined came in second and Thaj Browne of the
Dame Pearlette Louisy Primary School placed third.
Tamara Popo of the Castries Comprehensive Secondary school won in the secondary
schools category followed by Sarah Philip of the Choiseul secondary school in
second place, while the third place prize went to Eldra Joseph of the Vide
Bouteille Secondary school.
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