Meet Mr. Dengue, The Unwanted Guest

Meet Mr. Dengue, The Unwanted Guest 


Everyone knows Dengue is bad, bad for you, bad for me. Heck, even I was hospitalised for a week last year, along with the wife and my kid for dengue infection. But while dengue awareness is high, poor attitudes remain. As recently as last month, public sentiment remains indifferent to dengue, a painful and debilitating disease that can affect quality of lives up to six weeks post recovery. “I have heard stories about dengue but we never really did anything about it at home because we did not think it would affect us,” is one current example of public response to dengue.


Meet Mr. Dengue, The Unwanted Guest
Meet Mr. Dengue, The Unwanted Guest 



Recently,  The Malaysian Society of Infectious Diseases and Chemotherapy (MSIDC)  supported by Sanofi Pasteur held a public service awareness roadshow, Mr. Dengue, The Unwanted Guest . The campaign aims to cut through this ‘white noise’ of indifference through the use of satirical humour to catch the attention of the public on social media.

SWAT Team takes down Mr. Dengue!
SWAT Team takes down Mr. Dengue! 

“Mr. Dengue makes the invisible, visible. He represents the hidden dengue threat that is around all the time. It makes for playful education, and a more evocative portraiture of the disease which is a fresh way to communicate dengue prevention with the public,” said Baptiste De Clarens, Managing Director for Sanofi Pasteur Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.  

SWAT Team and Dengue Patrollers in the Pac-Man-styled maze, a training course to combat dengue.
SWAT Team and Dengue Patrollers in the Pac-Man-styled maze, a training course to combat dengue.

According to MSIDC (Malaysian Society of Infectious Diseases and Chemotherapy), Malaysians are still not doing enough on the dengue prevention front. “We know this from recent reports on public sentiment. Malaysians need to remember that dengue affects every one of us regardless of age, sex, health or economic status. Don’t wait until it happens to you or a family member before you take preventive action. Every 3 minutes, 1 person in Malaysia is infected3.  So please do not think you will not get dengue at some point in your life,” said Prof. Dr Zamberi Sekawi.

Jason Leong doing his thing
Jason Leong doing his thing

Everyone has a role to play in preventing dengue and protecting their families against the burden of the disease. Amongst the top tips shared by MSIDC and host and spokesperson for the Mr. Dengue campaign, Jason Leong during the media launch were:


  • Practice vector control
    • Frequent clearing of stagnant water 
    • Killing mosquitoes using insecticides
    • Use of tight-fitting lids or mesh on water storage containers 
    • Solid waste management
  • Take steps to reduce risk of being bitten by an infected mosquito
    • Try to wear clothing that reduces skin exposure during daylight hours 
    • Use repellents on exposed skin or clothing
    • Install mosquito nettings on windows
    • Insecticide aerosols, mosquito coils or other insecticide vaporisers and air conditioning can be used inside.


SWAT Team and Dengue Patrollers with Jason Leong
SWAT Team and Dengue Patrollers with Jason Leong 


Also present at the media launch were representatives from the Ministry of Health and schoolchildren participating in the Dengue Patrol 2016 program. The schoolchildren took part in a ‘Battle’ quiz with host Jason Leong to ‘defeat’ Mr. Dengue, to the delight of the invited guests.

The Meet Mr. Dengue, The Unwanted Guest roadshow was held at the Blue Concourse at Sunway Pyramid Mall from 12pm Friday 14th October to Sunday 16th October. The highlight of the roadshow is a Pac-Man-styled maze specially designed to be a training course for participants to equip themselves with tools to combat dengue. 

Head to www.facebook.com/mymrdengue and ‘like’ the page to receive dengue awareness and prevention information on your Facebook timeline. Download the ‘Protection Against Dengue’ brochure on the Meet Mr Dengue Tab at the Facebook page to keep up to date on dengue prevention habits. Additionally, take the Dengue Readiness Quiz at www.denguemissionbuzz.org to find out how prepared you are against the disease. Do it today ok! 







Comments

  1. I hate Mr Dengue too, bring pain pain to me :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. A very good awareness campaign to help change public mindset and attitude towards keeping a cleaner environment. I support efforts like these and I am glad you do, too.

    ReplyDelete

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