Kota Kinabalu, 16 September 2020 – Dengue awareness among school students is imperative in fight against the diseases.

To spread the word, The Biodiversity and Ecological Research Network (BEN), University of Malaya and the Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine (MSPTM), launched the Dengue Awareness Drawing Competition 2020 (Sabah) in 1st June, 2020, and the competition concluded on 31st August, 2020.

The drawing competition is meant to be an awareness programme, approved by the Sabah State Education Department, and sponsored by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Sabah.

The organizer welcomed more than 1,300 primary and secondary schools throughout Sabah to encourage students to participate in this competition.

Event chairperson Dr. Chen Chee Dhang said the competition was mooted to promote dengue awareness among primary and secondary students in Sabah.

All stakeholders should take the initiative to improve the health of our citizens.

The aim was to create a healthy Malaysia through the students’ artistic creativity.

“This awareness programme consists of two major components: the first part is awareness through a drawing competition which starts on 1st June until 31st August.

“While the second part involves launching a three-month Dengue Awareness Drawing Exhibition to exhibit students’ artwork and knowledge about Aedes and dengue, in order to benefit the general public.

“However, due to the current situation of Covid-19 in our country, this plan may be extended due to insufficient sponsorship,” said Dr. Chen. 

“The organizing committee of this programme would like to invite any organization, government agency, local authority, NGOs and stakeholders, who are interested to jointly organize the Dengue Awareness Drawing Exhibition, to contact us, in order to realize this programme for the Sabahans,” said Dr. Chen.

In order to commemorate Malaysia Day, the organizing committee is announcing the winners representing five divisions of Sabah, in this drawing competition, in order to highlight the importance of dengue control and prevention, for all Malaysian.

There are 48, 26 and 16 artworks selected by the judges representing three categories, e.g. primary school (Standard 4 – 6), lower secondary school (Form 1 – 3) and upper secondary school (Form 4 – 6), respectively.

The full list of Division Level winners can be found in the web page of Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine or Facebook page of Dengue Awareness Drawing Competition.

The winning artwork from the division level will be eligible to compete at the Sabah state level Dengue Awareness Drawing Competition in October 2020.