Balikpapan Activates Jumantik Against Dengue Fever Mosquito Larvae

Head of the Balikpapan Health Service (Kadinkes) dr Andi Sri Juliarty/Photo: Antara

BALIKPAPAN - The Balikpapan Health Service has again reminded residents of "Oil City" to carry out 3M, namely, draining, burying, and tightly closing water containers or containers to prevent the breeding of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.

"We have also reactivated our jumantik friends," said Head of the Balikpapan Health Service (Kadinkes) dr Andi Sri Juliarty, Tuesday, June 14.

Jumantik is a larva monitoring officer, or an officer who goes around the neighborhood and to homes to make sure there are no Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae, the mosquito that transmits the dengue virus that breeds in the environment he monitors.

The trick is to remind residents to do the 3M to prevent the Aedes aegypti mosquito carrying the dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) virus from reproducing.

For this reason, the bath, where livestock or pets drink water, must always be drained. Used buckets or cans should be buried. Drums or drinking water containers must be closed.

Kadinkes added, although currently there have been 400 cases of dengue fever in Balikpapan, so far they can always be helped so that there are no deaths.

The 400 cases in June 2022 are also far below the statistics in June 2021, which reached 700 cases.

"But we must remain vigilant even though there have been no cases of death, so we must quickly take precautions," he added, quoted by Antara.

Furthermore, said Kadinkes, while there are still many residents who work from home (WFH) or only work at home, it's good to take the time to clean the environment. It is even better if we work together so that the environment is cleaned more widely.

He also reminded that for water containers that cannot be completely closed and cannot be drained frequently such as large water tanks, abate can be used to kill mosquito larvae. Abate can be obtained at pharmacies or drug stores at a low price.