Since the outbreak of malaria there have been several attempts by Government and citizens to protect themselves from the disease.

According to a story in The Gleaner yesterday, the Govern-ment has allocated $30.2 million to provide emergency response to help deal with the life-threatening disease. In THE STAR, there was also a story that residents were stocking up on destroyers and other products aimed at killing mosquitoes.

There are also reports that Ministry of Health officials have been going door to door and doing inspections and advising residents in affected areas.

Now that the outbreak has been made public, all Jamaicans need to ensure that they educate themselves about the symptoms and causes of the diseases.

The health authorities should be commended for the work they have done so far to prevent the spread of the disease. However, they must continue to move swiftly to educate the public.

A widespread outbreak of this disease at this point will severely affect the island's prospects to benefit from the Cricket World Cup next year and destroy tourism, the island's main earner of foreign exchange and provider of jobs.

All groups and citizens need to get involved in the fight against this disease by educating them-selves and taking the necessary precautions.

In the meantime, the Govern-ment should continue to provide its support to the Health Ministry and also try to uncover the source of the outbreak in the affected communities quickly so that no one else will get the disease.