Each fall, Ms. Josephine Colón, a Head Start teacher in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, gathers her class for a parade. Masquerading as nurses, doctors, patients, fumigators-even mosquitoes and insecticide cans-the pupils join 400 other three- and four-year-old Head Start students near the center of town.
Accompanied by teachers, fire fighters, and police, they march with sirens blaring a quarter mile up Calle Georgetti, singing songs about dengue fever and handing out fliers to the cheering crowds that flank their route.
Children are key participants in anti-dengue fever
campaigns in Puerto Rico, where prevention efforts
emphasize community involvement in reducing
mosquito habitats. (Photo ©Head Start) |
In a scene repeated throughout much of Puerto Rico each year, the children bring traffic and commerce to a halt. They parade past schools, pharmacies, supermarkets, restaurants, offices, and banks to an open-air stage in the heart of Barceloneta's central plaza. There, joined by local officials, they read poems and messages about dengue and perform what amounts to a public health morality play.
"Everyone stops to listen to the message of how we can eliminate mosquitoes," says Ms. Colón. And with them, dengue fever.
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