Abstract:
There were many clinically diagnosed dengue cases reported
during the post-war period in Jaffna district, especially in Jaffna municipal
area. As there is no vaccine and specific treatment for dengue, vector control
is the major measure adapted to control the disease transmission. Therefore,
a study was designed to identify dengue risk areas in Jaffna Municipal area,
in order to help the health authorities to prioritize their resources allocation
to risk areas and to prevent the spread of the diseases further. Well known
risk factors for the transmission of dengue fever such land use pattern,
population density, house types, people gathering places and economic
status were considered as main criteria to find out the Dengue prevailing.
These criteria were combined using weighted overlay technique of the
Geographic Information System (GIS). ILWIS 3.7 GIS software was used for
Digital image processing, spatial analysis, and multi-criteria analysis.
Definiens Professional 5.0 (eCognition) to Image segmentation and
Classification. Based on the Dengue risk map, Grama Niladhari division
namely Reclamation East (J/68) and Reclamation West (J/69) were
identified as having high risk whereas, Eachchamoddai (J/66), Gurunagar
East (J/70), Gurunagar West (J/71), Jaffna Town West (J/73), Vannarpannai
(J/82) and Vannarpannai North West (J/99) have the risk for local
transmission of dengue respectively. The identified risk areas highly match
with the number of reported cases for dengue. While this map is expected to
help health authorities to undertake vector surveillance and public
awareness programmes, and extended map should be created for the whole
Jaffna district.
