ASSISTING Jamaica with controlling the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which causes dengue fever, is just what Cuba would love to do, that country’s ambassador to Jamaica has said.

It follows a call made by Opposition spokesman on health, Dr Morais Guy that Jamaica should turn to Cuba for help with its mosquito control programme, following a rise in dengue cases.

Hundreds of people have been affected, some of them having to be hospitalised, across Jamaica. Authorities had up to late last week not stated how many had died as a result of the mosquito-borne disease.

“Cuba has great experience in fighting dengue,” stated the north Caribbean island’s Ambassador to Jamaica Fermin Quinones Sanchez. “We have been developing in the country, pest control chemicals that do not affect humans health or animal health. We have experience in working in the communities, very closely with the population, and with different civil society organisations in order to tackle dengue.

“First, you need to tackle dengue as social and cultural education … to tell the people what to do in order not to spread Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is something very common in our tropical countries. There are great and important and very well-equipped systems installed for hygiene and epidemiology in every municipality and in every town in the countryside, and they participate with the wider population,” the ambassador said.

The dengue situation has worsened in recent weeks, following heightened mosquito breeding, some of it caused by consistent rainfall that has created more breeding locations for the insect.

Passengers leaving Norman Manley International Airport at the start of September were forced to take evasive action in protecting themselves from huge mosquitoes, which airport workers described as a pressing problem that authorities seemed unable to handle, one referring to it as “a regular, everyday thing that, man.”

So, what would it take for Cuba to get involved in helping to control Jamaica’s pesky mosquito population?

“If Jamaica’s Ministry of Health makes any particular request, we would be happy to participate with Jamaica and offer some kind of support,” Quinones Sanchez said.

The diplomat said that a special programme of education was also necessary to help with the eradication by placing information on television, in the newspapers, and appealing to the population to adopt measures at home, work and schools to avoid mosquito breeding sites.

“I hope that in the future Cuba can be useful in the campaign to fight dengue. When you use our chemicals you are not only fighting dengue, you are fighting Zika [virus], CHIKV [chikungunya], and you are killing Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also contributes to yellow fever.

“This is part of an integral job to avoid this kind of sickness in Jamaica. I have to talk to the authorities about this, but it is like an open door. We can work together. Protecting the Jamaican population is just like what we do in Cuba. We are neighbours, we are close by, and it is very important that we maintain the people-to-people contact. There are many Jamaicans studying and working in Cuba, there are many Cubans living and working in Jamaica, and that means that the movement between our countries is very intense,” Quinones Sanchez said.