Brazil unveils emergency center to tackle dengue epidemic
Brazil’s Health Minister Nísia Trindade on Thursday (Feb. 1) announced the launch of an Emergency Operations Center, a sort of crisis cabinet to curb the dengue epidemic plaguing the country. During a meeting at the headquarters of the Pan American Health Organization in Brasília, the minister called for mobilization by states and municipalities countrywide.
“I want to call on the whole nation to come together at this time to protect our people and to prevent [dengue fever], as we know that most of the breeding sites [of Aedes aegypti]—over 75 percent—are found in homes,” she declared. “Only by joining efforts can we make progress in protecting our people from dengue and possibly other arboviruses,” Minister Trindade added.
At the opening of the meeting, the minister reiterated that vaccination against dengue cannot be seen as a solution to the epidemic because of the limited number of doses of Qdenga provided by the manufacturer’s laboratory. Another critical point of immunization she underlined is that the inoculation is not recommended for the elderly, the group most affected by severe forms of the disease.
“The vaccine spells hope, it is a fundamental tool, but it’s not the answer to a moment of crisis,” she argued. “It’s time for prevention and care. Dengue is a disease which SUS [Brazil’s national health care network] can deal with efficiently, preventing deaths. That has to be our main goal at the moment,” she concluded.
