Dear Editor,
I recently returned from Guyana after a five-day trip. Standing outside the CJ airport, waiting for my taxi to Better Hope, I struck up a conversation with a British citizen who lives in Guyana and makes his living in the hotel/casino business. Offering my hand to say goodbye he advised: “C’gunya is here, be careful and keep away from the mosquitoes.”
Taking my seat in the taxi, I pondered whether it is practical and possible to keep away; after all this is mosquito country.
On Sept 26, the SN article captioned, ‘Suspected Chikungunya cases rising on West Coast Demerara,’ advised members of the public to use insect repellent, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants, sleep under mosquito nets and keep their surroundings clean so as to prevent the vector from breeding. A four-bullet-point poster circulated by the Health Ministry includes the following: Keep all water drums and barrels tightly covered and change water in vases every 3-5 days; discard all old tyres, bottles and other containers that collect water and act as breeding sites.
How effective are these advisories? If these measures alone – all within the individual and home-owners’ control – are carried out, would they be enough to keep the citizens safe from contracting c’gunya? These measures, by any reasonable estimate, may eliminate no more than 10 per cent of breeding sources. From my personal experience, insect repellents and protective clothing do not work in Guyana. They may work in a low-density mosquito population, but not in Guyana where clouds of mosquitoes literally inundate the houses at dusk. And because of the heat and humidity, you cannot close the doors and windows for relief. The only thing that keeps you free from mosquitoes is an air-conditioned house and 90 per cent of the population does not use air conditioning.
Open sewer drains, yard drains and trenches are the major mosquito breeding sources. In the capital city itself and in all the villages outside Georgetown, drains are uncovered and contain still water.
We need new laws mandating all that all drains be concreted and covered, and that they be flushed out at least once every two weeks. And outdoor latrines must be outlawed in the villages. Unless the central and local governments recognize the main causes of mosquito breeding and proliferation, we will never get to the bottom of this matter.
C’gunya is not yet an epidemic in Guyana – but it could become one very soon.
Derek Kowlessar, who lived in Canada for many years and has now repatriated and makes his home at Better Hope wants to do something to improve the quality of life in his community. He wants the NDC (village council) to assume control of all the drains, re-engineering them to make sure they slope and the water runs off and empties into the canals whose water then washes into the sea through the tide-synchronized kokers. Derek who has been recuperating from c’gunya for the past month wants to use his North-American sensibilities to open parks and gardens in his village – to make it look and feel like NA small towns. He needs to get elected to the NDC.
And, that British citizen expressed mixed sentiments about Guyana. He says he loves Guyana (Is it the balmy weather and breezes?), is married to a Guyanese and has been living there for six years now. But then he expressed concern; his casino business will suffer as a result of the soon to be opened Marriott Hotel and Casino. Already the business is limited to the small pool of tourists who have internationally-accepted currencies to spend, and with the competition, he sees disaster ahead.
Yours faithfully,
Mike Persaud
