Let's all watch out for Measles

| Friday January 22, 2010 00:00

We had all hoped that the Ministry of Health would by now have succeeded in bringing the disease under control.

A lot of time and effort has already gone into the Measles campaign. There have been massive media campaigns and community outreach programmes to sensitise members of the public on the symptoms and indeed dangers of Measles.

Measles as a highly infectious disease will demand that the public, in particular, should pay attention and note the symptoms so that whenever they notice the first signs they can act without delay. We believe that one of the reasons why the disease is taking too long could be that society is not actively playing its role in order to combat this disease.

There are some religious groups that do not want their members to take any medication other than prayers and other forms of medicine that are dispensed in their church. The trouble with such hard ingrained beliefs is that many people of faith do not take their children to clinics and hospitals even for purposes of preventive care.

The result is, of course, that the children who have not taken preventive medication are exposed and once they are infected with Measles they easily communicate the disease to others that they interact with, who have not taken the inoculation.

To safeguard our children and our community we want to appeal to everyone to take the health warnings issued by health professionals seriously.Unless this is done the rest of us will be at the mercy of a tiny fraction that do not want to act in the best interest of everyone.

In an unrelated event we wish to note and welcome a positive development taking place in the agricultural sector. This week a new insurance cover that particularly targets and seeks to insure all sorts of equipment, and other livestock and crop products was launched. This will go a long way in ensuring that there is progress and stability in the agricultural sector. This is a first in the sector. Perhaps owing to the availability of insurance, commercial banks will now be willing to insure a lot of investment in agriculture. Most of the time this has been left to individual commercial banks and the response according to farmers has not been very encouraging.

With this insurance coming on board we believe many potential farmers who could not carry all the many risks associated with agriculture, will now be willing to come on board- now that the banks may be more willing to offer assistance. The risks in the agricultural sector have been very restrictive and frustrating to many a farmer. In the event that farmers get agricultural insurance there is bound to be increase in production as more and more people might be interested in farming.

                                                             Today's thought

                         'You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you make it.'

                                                             -  Charles Bruxton