Tk 825cr spent, mosquito crisis still up

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Saturday urged citizens to keep their homes and surroundings clean to combat dengue, calling for a collective three-month effort to contain a disease that has already claimed at least 141 lives this year.

“Let us keep ourselves healthy, keep our families healthy, keep our society healthy and try to keep our country healthy,” he said while inaugurating the three-month nationwide Dengue Prevention and Cleanliness Campaign-2026 at the South Plaza of Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

The prime minister urged people to spend at least one hour a week cleaning their homes, schools, colleges, workplaces and surrounding areas.

“This work is not very difficult. Today you may have to make a little effort, but if every week you give one hour to cleaning the place where you live, work or study, we will certainly be able to succeed quickly,” he said.

Tarique said the fight against dengue begins with eliminating small pockets of stagnant water where Aedes mosquitoes breed, including in discarded plastic items, torn paper, flowerpots and other waste.

“Let us all work together to solve this problem. Perhaps we will not be able to do it 100 percent, but at least we can do 80 percent,” he said.

He also urged people to discourage others from littering in public places.
“We see many people throwing rubbish and waste here and there carelessly. Let us all try to make them aware,” he said.

The prime minister cautioned that individual efforts alone cannot prevent dengue because mosquitoes breed in shared surroundings and can put entire families and communities at risk.

Tarique called on students, Scouts, BNCC cadets, cleaners and volunteers to play a leading role in the campaign.

“Work, work, work – and cleanliness, cleanliness, cleanliness. This must be our main goal for the coming days,” he said, describing the campaign as part of a broader effort to build “a clean family and a clean Bangladesh.”

He pointed to the country’s large youth population as a major potential force in the campaign.

Bangladesh has around 23 lakh Scouts and 22,000 BNCC members,
while about 1.5 crore students attend high schools, madrasas, colleges and universities.

Including primary-level students, the number rises to around 2.5 crore, according to the prime minister.

He said mobilising such a large group could help address not only dengue but also the broader task of rebuilding the country.

The prime minister’s appeal for greater public participation comes against a long record of spending on mosquito control that has yet to prevent repeated dengue outbreaks.

Dhaka’s two city corporations have spent nearly Tk 825 crore on mosquito-control activities over the past 11 years, including pesticides, clearing weeds and water bodies, and purchasing equipment.

Dhaka North City Corporation accounted for around Tk 549.50 crore, while Dhaka South City Corporation spent approximately Tk 275.35 crore on similar activities.

The two corporations have proposed another Tk 200 crore for mosquito control in their current budgets – Tk 142 crore for DNCC and Tk 58 crore for DSCC.

Despite the spending, dengue continues to spread, with outbreaks repeatedly returning and often becoming more severe.

The problem is not confined to Dhaka.
Most municipalities and local government bodies outside the capital lack effective, year-round systems to monitor Aedes mosquitoes and eliminate their breeding grounds.

Health officials say a significant proportion of dengue patients treated at Dhaka hospitals come from other parts of the country.

According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), at least 141 people have died of dengue since January, while 49,220 patients have been hospitalised as of Friday.

Of those figures, 77 deaths and 37,250 hospitalisations were recorded outside Dhaka, underscoring the extent to which dengue has spread beyond the capital.

The actual toll could be higher, however. The DGHS currently collects data from only 139 hospitals, compared with around 20,000 hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres registered across the country.

Dengue has now been reported in all 64 districts.
Hospitals are admitting several hundred new patients every day, while deaths from the largely preventable disease continue to occur.

The government expects the situation to worsen in late September and early October, with infections projected to rise further in at least 15 districts.

The institutional capacity to control the Aedes mosquito also remains limited.

Eleven of the country’s 12 city corporations have no entomologist on staff to guide mosquito-control programmes, despite dengue becoming a year-round public health concern rather than a seasonal one.

Only 24 districts have approved posts for entomologists, while the remaining 40 have none. Of the 24 districts with approved posts, at least six have positions that have remained vacant for years.

Based on four years of data, the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) has identified Dhaka, Khulna, Chattogram, Gazipur, Mymensingh, Pirojpur, Narayanganj, Jhalakathi, Cox’s Bazar, Sirajganj, Cumilla, Barishal, Barguna, Bandarban and Patuakhali as districts where dengue risk is likely to increase in the coming weeks.

Against this backdrop, the prime minister’s call for citizens to devote one hour a week to cleaning their surroundings takes on a broader significance.

After years of mosquito-control spending and repeated dengue outbreaks, the campaign once again places much of the emphasis on the most basic line of defence: eliminating breeding grounds before the Aedes mosquito has a chance to multiply.