COMMENT: Zika highlights how we are all in this together
(Photo: Getty Images)
DEET is in the air, and if the empty shelves of my local pharmacy are any indication, that smell of mosquito repellent isn’t going away any time soon.
And for good reason: the end of every day brings updates of new cases of Zika virus infections, with the expectation of more clusters to eventually be identified across the island.
If National Service is meant to be the great equaliser for Singaporean men, Zika is currently the greatest equaliser of them all. Mosquitoes don’t check passports or carry out means-testing before they bite; Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans alike have been infected.
Migrant workers’ living conditions still an issue
That over 50 of those infected are foreigners is in itself not worth reporting, since all these cases have been classified as locally transmitted. But that a significant number of migrant workers have been infected with Zika – it is not yet clear how many of the foreigners are migrant workers, although we know that there have been at least 36 infected – points to a long-standing issue that’s been neglected.
The sub-standard, unhygienic conditions that many migrant workers live in has been flagged numerous times over a long period. Premises that are crowded, damp and dirty are prime areas for mosquitoes to breed, and for diseases to spread.
A report in The Straits Times from 2007 linked dengue hot spots to poor living quarters for migrant workers, pointing out that 1,133 of the 3,216 dengue cases at that point in time were migrant workers. Although the Ministry of Manpower conducts inspections of living quarters from time to time, the problem has never been adequately solved.
With the arrival of Zika in Singapore – and, being a tropical island with a highly mobile population and a busy airport, it was only a matter of time – it’s no wonder that migrant workers, living smack in the middle of mosquito breeding habitats, were left vulnerable to the virus.
Some more vulnerable than others
Migrant workers are generally considered to be part of a transient population, as opposed to part of Singapore’s residents. But if we’re learning anything from this outbreak, it should be a realisation that everyone who lives on this island is connected in some way, and that we all have a share (and a part to play) in what happens here.
Everyone is vulnerable when something like Zika occurs in Singapore, but some of us are made even more vulnerable due to conditions such as poor living arrangements. None of us are safe until all of us are safe.
It’s great that the authorities are now giving their all in inspecting and fumigating areas, including the places where migrant workers live and work, to protect people from Zika.
But this can’t just be a temporary measure while Singapore is grappling with an outbreak. Instead, we need to make sure that the living conditions of these workers are always at a clean, satisfactory standard, so they can be protected not just from Zika and dengue, but any other public health threat that could come our way.
