Community Participation in The Control and Prevention of DHF in Indonesia

Abstract: Dengue hemorrhagic fever is considered as a public health problem in Indonesia. During 1968-1991, a total of 260,769 cases with 10,104 deaths were reported in 24 out of 27 provinces. DHF has been endemic for many years and an average of 10,431 cases with 404.2 deaths are reported every year. Under the Ministry of Health coordination, the national DHF control program has been carried out to reduce cases and deaths by early diagnoses and case management, and to prevent the spread of disease by vector control. The program has significantly reduced the CFR from 41.3 % in 1968 to 2.3 % in 1993. However, DHF cases and deaths are still reported every year. Since there are no effective treatment and vaccine available, the only way to reduce incidence and prevent the epidemics is to control Aedes aegypti, the main vector of DHF. Over the past two decades, too much reliance has been placed on the use of insecticides for vector control. Many studies and experiences indicated that such control has been ineffec-tive for several reasons. These include: surveillance for epidemic DHF is not sensitive and adulticiding is not effective. The most effective DHF vector control will be through the reduction of source of infection based on community participation