As dengue cases are on the rise in the city, particularly among children, the Women and Child Development Department is planning to providing mosquito nets to all anganwadi centres in the district.
K. Radha, deputy director, Women and Child Development Department, told The Hindu on Monday that the department has some unused administrative expenses and plans to use the excess funds to provide nets to the centres.
The department is also planning to meet the Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru to prevail upon corporate house to provide nets to the centres under its Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) funds, Ms. Radha said.
Meanwhile, many gram panchayats in Hunsuru and T. Narsipura have already purchased insecticide-treated mosquito nets and distributed the same to centres in their jurisdictions. The gram panchayats are making use of the unused funds and taking the help of elected members to provide nets to the centres.
Ms. Radha said on Monday that she would write a letter to the government seeking permission to purchase nets with the unused funds. Once the government approves, the department would procure nets and distribute it to the centres.
There are over 2,860 anganwadis in the district and over one lakh children in the age group of three to six years study here, Ms. Radha said. As dengue is on the rise in many places across the district, the department felt an urgent need to provide mosquito nets to the centres in the best interest of children, she said.
According to Basavaraj, District Health Officer, over 65% of the total number of people suffering from fever-related illnesses in the district were children between five and 19 years. He said that of the 13 people who had died in the district in the past two months owing to fever-related diseases, nine were children. In the last two months, over 2,000 blood samples were tested for dengue in the district. Of these, 444 persons were found to have tested dengue positive.
