Q24N (Prensa Latina) To US$8 million dollars is the amount already spent by Panamanian health authorities to address the Zika epidemic, said the minister of Health, Francisco Javier Terrientes.
He explained that of the US$10 million dollars approved by the government last February as part of a national emergency plan, so far about 80 percent have being used in campaigns to raise public awareness on the need to eliminate the breeding places of Aedes aegypti, transmitting agent of dengue, chikungunya and Zika.
Among the actions are promotion and advertising, staff training, fumigation, transport and research, which latest aspect was materialized last April after the signing os an agreement with the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies and other scientific entities of the country.
Nevertheless, the most important thing is that the community works in eliminating vector breeding sites to control the disease, stated the head of the Health Ministry.
Terrientes explained that at this moment they are monitoring 20 pregnant women to determine if they have been infected with the virus, while they confirmed four cases of microcephaly related to Zika and two congenital malformations.
