Youth clubs' role in creating awareness of zoonotic diseases hailed

CHITRAL, May 11: Youth clubs established and organized by Relief International (RI) at the village level were described as arteries for creating awareness about zoonotic diseases. It was decided to amalgamate them into the local support organizations to give them a permanent role. The participants of the monthly meeting of district zoonoses control committee (DZCC) held here with Dr. Israrullah, district health officer, in the chair, emphasized the utility of the youth clubs and said they acted as a catalyst to raise the level of awareness about the zoonotic diseases. The district project manager of RI, Dr. Muhammad Tayyab, secretary of DZCC Ajaz Ahmed, members Dr. Saad Maluk, Dr. Ibrahim Khan, Shafiq Ahmed, Dr. Ajmal Khan and others gave their outputs for strengthening the youth clubs on zoonoses. The district had been declared prone to the zoonotic diseases due to the dependence of more than 90 percent of its residents on agriculture which necessitated cattle farming for their sustenance, Dr. Tayyab said. He added that to cope with this situation, RI launched its project in some selected union councils of Chitral and started a blanket awareness program targeting different strata of the society including women folk. The participants of the meeting also suggested to present the awareness program in the schools about zoonoses as success story which had generated marvelous results in a short span of time in educating the people on grass root level. The inclusion of the members of National and Provincial assemblies from the district was also decided on this occasion to enlist their support in making the zoonoses control program a viable one. On this occasion, the anti-rabbi vaccines were handed over to the health department by RI which had acute shortage in the district. Addressing on the occasion, the chairman of the committee, Dr. Israrullah emphasized that to combat the deadly diseases of zoonoses transmitted from the animals to men, it was required to get all the segments of the society actively engaged in the process. He expressed his satisfaction over the coordination between government departments regarding zoonoses control.–Zahiruddin]]>