MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: Alberto Fernández partly to blame for dengue crisis, Spokesman Adorni says

Under Fernández, the Health Ministry “was evidently conspicuous by its absence,” Adorni stressed

Argentine Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni Tuesday blamed the administration of Alberto Fernández (2019-2023) for “much of the problem” stemming from a spread of dengue fever in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA). Adorni spoke of a “failure” in public policies under the previous government regarding the current mosquito invasion.

 Adorni insisted that “a large part of this problem” was due to the “failure or prevention policies” in the last year of Fernández's administration and “we do not want people to lose sight of that” fact.

“This task of prevention and dissemination of what is dengue were not well implemented,” he underlined while criticizing the part government's underachievements in this regard despite boasting that the Health agency had been upgraded to the rank of Ministry. “We remember the chant 'we have a ministry',” Adorni pointed out.

“However, in the administration, the ministry was evidently conspicuous by its absence,” he continued. “Beyond the climatic factors, mosquitoes have a cycle and the actions to send the hatcheries have to be given in advance,” he went on.

Presently, “the Health Ministry is coordinating [efforts] with the provinces, especially with those most affected by dengue,” he also explained.

Brazil

Meanwhile, Agencia Brasil reported that 113 deaths in South America's largest country had been caused by dengue since Jan. 1, and 438 others were under investigation, according to Health Ministry data released earlier this week.

In less than two months, Brazil has recorded 653,656 probable cases of dengue, an incidence rate of 321.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Women account for the majority of infections (55%), while men register 45%. The 30 to 39 age group continues to top the list of dengue patients, followed by the 40 to 49 age group and the 50 to 59 age group.

The Federal District currently has the highest incidence rate (2,814.5), followed by Minas Gerais (1,061.7), Acre (644.7), Paraná (611.6) and Goiás (569.6). In terms of absolute cases, Minas Gerais comes first (218,066). Next are São Paulo (111,470), the Federal District (79,287), Paraná (69,991), and Rio de Janeiro (49,263).

Chile

The Regional Secretariat of the National Health Ministry (Seremi) in O'Higgins reported this week a case of dengue in a 23-year-old young man who had traveled to Brazil in mid-January.

“It is an imported case. It means that the person was infected in a country where this disease is endemic. We in the region do not have the presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is what transmits the disease and the idea is that all of us work together so that this stays that way,” Seremi head Carolina Torres explained.
Local media underlined that the patient had not been vaccinated against the malady.

Peru

President Dina Boluarte highlighted this week that the Health Ministry (Minsa) has been strengthening the surveillance, prevention, and control of dengue nationwide through the purchase of medical equipment for early diagnosis. “We now have 60 laboratories for serological diagnosis and 16 laboratories that carry out molecular tests for dengue,” she explained.

The National Health Institute (INS) purchased 154 molecular biology laboratory kits to optimize 21 laboratories in the country, Boluarte underlined.

Health Ministry efforts against dengue are focused on the regions of Piura, La Libertad, Áncash, Lima, San Martín, Ica, Amazonas, Lambayeque, Cajamarca, Madre de Dios, Puno, and Ucayali.

Read also: Buenos Aires under heavy mosquito invasion,