Legislation for control of dengue in Singapore

Abstract

In Singapore, three pieces of legislation, namely, the Infectious Diseases Act (IDA), the Control of Vectors and Pesticides Act (CVPA) and the Environmental Public Health Act (EPHA) provide very wide powers to prevent and control dengue. They prescribe hefty penalties against offenders for failure to comply with the laws. Despite that, the experience showed that it was inadequeate to rely only on legislation to control dengue. It is more effective to make the community understand, through communication, the importance of preventing mosquito-breeding within their premises and assist them to have a proper system to do so. Through working with various agencies, much better long-term cooperation and results can be achieved than through enforcement of law. Legislation can be used in emergency situations like disease outbreak or when dealing with recalcitrant offenders.