In an effort to increase awareness amongst the general public of St. Maarten regarding mosquito borne illnesses, particularly about the Zika virus, Minister Emil Lee has established cooperation with Ministry of Health in Curacao to produce and market materials regarding mosquitos and mosquito borne illnesses. “Curacao has done an excellent job in producing and providing awareness material. They have a video and brochures in different languages of which can be easily utilized in St. Maarten, stated Minister Lee in the press briefing on Wednesday.
As the war against mosquitos continues to affect the Caribbean region the Ministry of VSA is working diligently to eradicate mosquito breeding sites and educate the public. Pooling resources together with Curacao will shorten the time frame and decrease the costs of producing educational material for distribution on St. Maarten.
Curacao is very excited about the various concepts on how they can get the message out on mosquitos, and that a formal cooperation agreement between the Ministries is being worked on. “In a time where everyone has limited resources and tight finances, I think that cooperation makes all the sense in the world” said the Minister.
In addition, Collective Prevention Services (CPS) under the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor have contracted a Vector Control Specialist for the next 6 months to assist CPS with the implementation of a National mosquito program.