THE Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children is mulling over setting up guidelines for street food vendors with the view of controlling outbreak of diseases.
This was revealed by the Director of Preventive Services in the ministry, Dr Leonard Subi, who also directed the regional, district and ward health officers countrywide to carry out special inspection to ensure and control disease outbreaks that are a result of lack of hygiene.
Dr Subi made the remarks when speaking to reporters on successes recorded in preventive services in four years of the fifth-phase government, saying a lot has been attained.
Dr Subi recalled that prevention is better than cure, and cognizant of that, the ministry has spent over 5bn/- to purchase biolarvicides whereas over 230,000 litres were sprayed aimed at fighting malaria mosquitoes.
“You are all aware that the rate of malaria infection has gone down and one of the contributing factors is spraying of the biolarvicides in larvae breeding habitat before they can mature into adult mosquitoes and disperse,” said Dr Subi.
He stressed on the good outcome of the exercise, with the rate of malaria in prone district and municipal councils dropping to 7.3 per cent in 2017 from 14.7 per cent in 2015, whereas the rate is expected to go down even further.
Dr Subi added that to ensure they prevent and enhance the country’s preparedness for detecting and managing disease, over 100 thermal scanners have been installed in 22 borders countrywide.
He went on saying that vaccination has remained a priority in prevention of communicable diseases, whose coverage is over 98 per cent.
“We now want to focus on sanitation and hygiene issues as a measure to prevent uncalled for outbreaks which are costly, therefore, health officers at all levels should go to the field and make sure everything is in order,” said Dr Subi.
He ordered the health officials across the country to undertake sanitation and hygiene campaign in all avenues, be it hotels, lodges, restaurants, households, food -vending joints to ensure they comprehend with the rules and regulations pertinent to health and environment.
He cautioned the officials to focus more on awareness and only resort to legal measures for those who would refuse to comply.
