Physical Address
Indirizzo: Via Mario Greco 60, Buttigliera Alta, 10090, Torino, Italy
Faced with the health risks of the summer season, often synonymous with a resurgence of pathologies linked to heat and large gatherings, the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) has taken the lead by organizing a regional meeting dedicated to the prevention of health risks.
This two-day meeting, which ended this Wednesday in Sétif, brought together a hundred public health specialists from twelve wilayas in the east of the country, all mobilized for the application of the common strategy to combat the health hazards that threaten the population during this sensitive period. On this occasion, Professor Abderrazak Bouamra, Director General of the INSP, called for the “strengthening of preventive measures for health risks related to summer, including food poisoning, waterborne diseases that can take on an epidemic dimension, zoonoses and drownings.”
He also highlighted other diseases that could be linked to this summer period such as dermatological diseases, highlighting other risk factors such as family gatherings which also generate favorable conditions for the development of these pathologies particular to the summer season.
Professor Abderrazak Bouamra noted that “all these health problems are linked to environmental hygiene and weigh heavily on the State. Whether because of the morbidity that these diseases cause or the high cost that they generate and which weigh on the budget of health services.”
For her part, Dr. Amel Boughoufala, head of contagious disease surveillance at the INSP, stressed the importance of hygiene in the process of transporting food and water to the consumer, particularly for university restaurants, school canteens and during festivals. The speaker noted the importance of hygiene in preventing summer health risks, the number of which reached more than 11,000 cases of collective and individual poisoning in 2023.
Organized in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior, Local Authorities and Regional Planning, the Ministry of Trade and Export Promotion, the Regional Directorate of Civil Protection and the Algerian Red Crescent (CRA), this meeting was marked by some fifteen communications, given by experts from the INSP as well as the Ministries of the Interior and Trade. They focused in particular on health risks, methods of treating food poisoning, road accidents and drownings. In addition, a training workshop for participants in prevention and reactions to have in the face of the various risks of the summer season was supervised by the local directorate of Civil Protection.
As part of the health risk prevention campaign, launched at the end of June, the Ministry of Health stressed the importance of respecting basic hygiene rules to prevent food poisoning. It specified that these simple but effective rules contribute to saving lives and protecting citizens from the risks of complications due to poisoning.
Among the recommended measures, the most basic is regular hand washing with soap and water, especially before and after preparing meals, after going to the toilet and after being in contact with animals. It was also recommended to thoroughly clean fruits and vegetables before eating them and to cook meat to an internal temperature sufficient to eliminate pathogenic bacteria. The Ministry of Health also stressed the importance of respecting the cold chain, with food being stored at a minimum temperature of 4°C. Regarding the freezing of food, the Ministry’s directive insists on never defrosting meat at room temperature but to put it in the refrigerator.
In addition to these individual prevention measures, the various stakeholders involved in the prevention of health risks have also put in place a number of measures to deal with risks during the summer season. These measures include, in particular, the reinforcement of health checks in restaurants, school canteens, catering areas, beaches and swimming pools, as well as the deployment of inspection teams responsible for ensuring compliance with hygiene and sanitation standards in the establishments concerned.
The Ministry of Health has also placed health structures on maximum alert, with special arrangements for emergency medical services, particularly in coastal provinces.