Tuliau told Samoa News that the youngster passed away two weeks ago. DOH received test results confirming the boy died from dengue fever this week. “This is a very sad situation for the family to lose a child this young,” he said
Early this month DOH reported 51 confirmed cases. As of Saturday, DOH said there were 69 confirmed cases of dengue fever for 2008. Of these cases 57 percent are male and 43 percent females, ranging from infants to adults.
Asked from which part of the territory the majority of dengue cases are being report, Tuliau said, “it’s basically all over the island but many are in close clustered areas with high populations” such as Fagatogo, Pago Pago, Tafuna and similar areas.
As the number of dengue cases increase DOH is looking at other ways of launching a new awareness program, targeting youngsters.
“Our health team will be meeting this week to discuss our next move in educating the public about the danger of dengue fever and how to prevent it,” said Tuliau. “There was a campaign in Singapore where an awareness program was launched in schools and was very successful in bringing the number of their dengue cases down.”
“So we are looking also at targeting schools and will be working with the Department of Education on this important issue,” he said, noting that during last year’s public awareness they worked with village mayors and the Office of Samoan Affairs.
