Rousseff rallies ministers for crusade against Zika virus
Brasília - President Rousseff at a meeting with ministers and other government officers
President Dilma Rousseff has arranged the final details Wednesday (Feb. 10) of the national campaign to eradicate Aedes aegypti mosquitoes slated for Saturday (13). The government is sending out about 220,000 men from the Army, Navy, and Air Force to 356 municipalities in an awareness campaign on how to eliminate the insect that transmits dengue and chikungunya fever and Zika virus.
The goal of the national crusade is to visit three million homes. It will cover all state capitals and cities where infection is endemic. The president has called on all federal government employees to help combat the mosquito and prevent its proliferation.
Rousseff flies to Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. She is planning to send a minister to every state capital to monitor the Armed Forces' efforts. The ministers will represent the federal government and monitor handing out of educational materials to the public with information on how to keep homes clear of mosquito breeding sites.
The destinations of some cabinet members have been decided. Health Minister Marcelo Castro will go to Salvador, and the Chief of Staff, Jaques Wagner, to São Luís. Culture Minister Juca Ferreira will be headed for Aracaju; Tereza Campello, Minister of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger, is going to Recife; Edinho Silva, head of presidential communications (SECOM), will go to Maceió, and the head of the Government Secretariat of the Presidency, Ricardo Berzoini, will go to Manaus.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Rousseff rallies ministers for crusade against Zika virus
