Caribbean prone to insect-borne diseases

WASHINGTON (CMC):The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) has warned that about 50 per cent of people living in the Americas, including the Caribbean, are at risk of one or more diseases carried by insects.

The Washington-based PAHO said these insects include mosquitoes, ticks, flies and other vectors which carry diseases such as the West Nile virus, dengue, malaria, and most recently, chikungunya.

In a "call to action" for World Health Day 2014, top health experts from North and South America and the Caribbean urged greater efforts by governments, communities and individuals to control the spread of these and other vector-borne diseases.

"Our region has achieved many successes in controlling vector-borne diseases," said PAHO director Dr Carissa F. Etienne.

"However, this success is being threatened by the expansion of mosquitoes and other vectors into new habitats and by the emergence of insecticide and drug resistance," she added.

Etienne said PAHO and its partners are, therefore, calling for "stepped-up" action in the fight against vector-borne diseases in the Americas.