Local Government Minister Abdul Moyeen Khan on Monday called for a coordinated action plan with the Health Ministry to contain dengue, warning against complacency as Bangladesh enters the peak months for infections.

“August, September and October are the peak period for dengue, so necessary measures must be taken before the situation deteriorates further,” Khan said at a workshop on a strategic action plan for dengue prevention at Hotel Sonargaon in Dhaka.

He said dengue infections and deaths remained somewhat lower than during the same period last year but warned that the figures offered no reason for complacency.

Khan said the Local Government and Health ministries, along with other agencies involved in dengue control, needed to work under a coordinated plan with implementation extending to the field level.

“Prevention is better than treatment,” he said. “If we can prevent it, that will be much easier than trying to cure it after it occurs.”

The remarks came two days after Prime Minister Tarique Rahman launched a three-month nationwide dengue prevention and cleanliness campaign, with awareness programmes being carried out simultaneously across all 64 districts.

Khan said the government was already conducting nationwide awareness campaigns and called for greater public participation in efforts to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds.

He also urged policymakers to draw on past experience in designing dengue-control measures, saying local environmental conditions and patterns of mosquito proliferation should be considered alongside modern technology.

Local Government Division Secretary Md Shahidul Hasan chaired the event, attended by representatives from the World Bank, WHO, UNICEF, icddr,b, the Directorate General of Health Services, IEDCR, city corporations and municipalities.