As a result of the increase of dengue cases in Cali, Colombia, the Red de Salud del Oriente and the Red de Salud del Suroriente signed an agreement with the World Mosquito Program to expand the program to the communities of the 13th, 15th and 16th districts of Cali.
In Colombia, the World Mosquito Program has been working with the municipalities of Bello and Medellin (Antioquia) since 2015; a year ago, the WMP began operations in Cali thanks to the endorsement of the Municipal Public Health Secretariat in the Ladera sector. It began working together with the residents in communes 1, 18 and 20, now pioneers of this project.
María Yusti, who actively participated in the development of the project in commune 18 of Cali, comments: "it is very important to understand that through this project we are contributing to our community to have better health with respect to these mosquito-borne diseases".
The ceremony of the official start of activities in communes 13, 15 and 16 -with the protocol of prevention and safe distance- was attended by Doris Tejeda, Deputy Secretary of Health; Miyerlandi Torres, Secretary of Health; Erika Thompson, Ambassador of Australia in Colombia, and María Patricia Arbeláez, epidemiologist of WMP. In addition, Carlos Arizabaleta, Manager of Red de Salud Suroriente - E.S.E., Jaime Andrés Ramírez, WMP Cali Coordinator and Embert Augusto Legarda, Advisor of Red de Salud Oriente E.S.E. also joined the event.
To close the ceremony, a touch of joy and creativity was provided by the foundation "Chilling maniáticos", a musical group formed by children and young people who live in commune 13. They got inspired by the actions of the WMP and composed a song in the typical "salsa choque" rhythm. You can meet them and enjoy the video here, we are sure it will cheer up your day.
