The Ministry of Health is rolling out a new strategy to curb communicable diseases with practical prevention measures.

Health Minister Dr. Ifereimi Waqainabete says the strategy will have MOH participating proactively in mass gatherings.

He says last week throughout the Methodist Church annual conference in Suva, their Health Inspectors worked with organizers on raising awareness on prevention measures for several diseases such as typhoid, dengue, and leptospirosis.

The health teams, in particular, demonstrated the WASH program, (Water safety, sanitation, and hygiene) given that food was prepared at Furnival Park where the conference was held.
Dr. Waqainabete says the teams also carried out early morning spraying and held a post-conference debrief.

“We’ve been saying all along, you know if anybody is sick, feels sick, feels unwell needs to take themselves to the hospital. And we now live in a time when there’s issues around climate change. I was talking to my colleagues from the Caribbean countries, one of them from I think it was Grenada, normally they have dengue fever for four months but they’ve had dengue fever now for four years because it’s being unusually wet in the seasons that they are dry.”

Fijians conducting mass gatherings Dr. Waqainabete says are encouraged to ask their nearest Health Inspectors to advice and work with them in ensuring food safety and health protection.