By Allan Jay & Alexius Khung
KUCHING: SMK Kuching Town No 1 has been selected as one of three schools in Sarawak to compete in the National-level Anti-Dengue Mission Competition 2019.
The schools will be competing against schools from throughout the country in Kuala Lumpur, said Local Government and Housing minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian when he officiated at the ‘Anti-Dengue Mission with the Minister’ programme at SMK Kuching Town No 1 here yesterday.
Dr Sim went further to update on the dengue situation in the country, saying “Dengue is a major outbreak in Malaysia, and normally there will be about 35,000 cases in a year.
“But dengue cases in the country for the first six months of 2019 have recorded a total of 65,000 cases and 100 people have lost their lives.”
He said in Sarawak, 924 cases of dengue were reported and a life was taken.
“Kuching alone has the highest cases in the entire state with 363 cases, followed by Miri with 40 cases,” he briefed.
Dr Sim said dengue outbreaks are associated with two factors, namely urbanisation and climate change.
According to him, Sarawak is ranked number eight in Malaysia in having dengue outbreaks and the hotspot for the outbreak is in Sibu.
“I advise that Sarawakians should be aware of their surrounding that could potentially breed the aedes mosquitoes. Keep your compounds clean at all times.
“Dengue outbreaks have been affecting about 60 million people every year worldwide but in certain years there will be outbreaks while some years there are no outbreaks.
“This is also due to the hot weather, as the hotter the weather gets, the more dengue cases will happen which is part of evolution,” he told students yesterday.
“We do not want the state to be number one in having the most dengue cases or outbreaks. Instead, we should strive to be the number one state in providing solutions to this disease.
“Thus, I urge everyone, including those in the government agencies, schools, corporations and others, to be aware of dengue outbreaks and strive to eradicate them.”
The criteria to enter the national-level anti-dengue competition is to produce two videos: a 5-minute video on anti-dengue campaign carried out by the school and a 8-minute video on community service and a short presentation by the students.
The school will be selected by the divisional office to represent Kuching which will then be chosen to represent Sarawak in the national level.
For the national-level, the selection will be judged and selected by 2 juries from the Education Ministry, 2 juries from the Health Ministry and 2 juries from Sanofi Pasteur.
SMK Kuching Town No 1 was selected to represent Sarawak yesterday.
The national level selection for the winner of the competition will be made on 19 Sept 2019.
