KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Health Horace Dalley says the ministry will be hiring and training 1,000 young people as vector control workers, who will go into communities, along with the ministry’s vector control teams, to identify mosquito breeding sites and destroy them.

“We want to have every single hand on deck to protect our population. We are going to do everything, community by community, parish by parish to ensure that we try our very best to eliminate the mosquito, to identify the virus if it comes and make sure that we do our part to minimise the impact on our population, our economy and our people,” the minister emphasised.

He was addressing senior health staff from the health regions islandwide, at a National Training Seminar to prepare the health sector for the Zika virus, at the Knutsford Court Hotel, today.

He also charged senior health officials in the ministry to mobilise the public in preparation for the Zika virus (ZikV), if it is introduced into the country.

The minister said the ministry must partner with civil society, the private sector, community groups and the church in ensuring that there is consistent communication to the public in engaging persons to play their part in destroying mosquito breeding sites.