 |
| PSA roadshow by The Malaysian Society of Infectious Diseases and Chemotherapy (MSIDC) supported by Sanofi Pasteur cuts through the ‘white noise’ of dengue reporting to engage the public on good dengue prevention habits |
While DENGUE awareness is high, poor
attitudes remain. The public run the risk of becoming immune to the
impact of dengue infection on their lives, families and communities by treating
them as ‘white noise.’ As recently as last month, public sentiment
remains indifferent to dengue, a painful and debilitating disease that can
affect quality of lives up to six weeks post recovery. “I have heard stories about dengue but we never really did anything
about it at home because we did not think it would affect us,”2 is
one current example of public response to dengue.
Enter MR.DENGUE, The Unwanted Guest, a
public service awareness roadshow by The Malaysian Society of Infectious
Diseases and Chemotherapy (MSIDC) supported by Sanofi Pasteur. The campaign
aims to cut through this ‘white noise’ of indifference through the use of
satirical humour to catch the attention of the public on social media. Once he
has your attention, he provides information about dengue fever, empowering the
public with tools to protect themselves from the disease.
“MR.DENGUE makes the invisible, visible.
He represents the hidden dengue threat that is around all the
time. It
makes for playful education, and a more evocative portraiture of the disease which is a fresh way to communicate dengue
prevention with the public,” said Baptiste De Clarens, Managing Director for SANOFI PASTEUR MALAYSIA, Singapore and Brunei.
“Since the introduction of Mr. Dengue in
February, he has been busy showing what he’s all about, what he will do to you. He has also been sharing his
"exploits" by hijacking twitter conversations and spreading his
message of ‘mozzie domination’ on Facebook. Between April to July this year, the
campaign garnered more than 2.7m impressions online, supported by initiatives
with key media partners. And with the concourse roadshow here at Sunway Pyramid
this weekend, we hope to reach out to many more Malaysians. Additionally, Malaysians
can ‘meet’ Mr. Dengue by liking his Facebook page - www.facebook.com/mymrdengue. Spread
the news about Mr. Dengue on your social media and he might just pay you a
visit,” he added.
According to MSIDC (Malaysian Society of
Infectious Diseases and Chemotherapy), Malaysians are still not doing enough on
the dengue prevention front. “We know this from recent reports on public
sentiment. Malaysians need to remember that dengue affects every one of us
regardless of age, sex, health or economic status. Don’t wait until it happens
to you or a family member before you take preventive action. Every 3 minutes, 1
person in Malaysia is infected3.
So please do not think you will not get dengue at some point in your
life,” said Prof. Dr Zamberi Sekawi.
Everyone
has a role to play in preventing dengue and protecting their families against
the burden of the disease. Amongst the top tips shared by MSIDC and host and
spokesperson for the Mr. Dengue campaign, Jason Leong during the media launch
today were:
·
Practice vector control
o Frequent clearing of stagnant
water
o Killing mosquitoes using
insecticides
o Use of tight-fitting lids or
mesh on water storage containers
o Solid waste management
·
Take steps to reduce risk of being bitten by an infected mosquito
o Try to wear clothing that
reduces skin exposure during daylight hours
o Use repellents on exposed skin
or clothing
o Install mosquito nettings on
windows
o Insecticide aerosols, mosquito
coils or other insecticide vaporisers and air conditioning can be used inside.
Also present at the media launch were representatives
from the Ministry of Health and schoolchildren participating in the Dengue
Patrol 2016 program. The schoolchildren took part in a ‘Battle’ quiz with host
Jason Leong to ‘defeat’ Mr. Dengue, to the delight of the invited guests.
The Meet Mr. Dengue, The Unwanted Guest
roadshow will be held at the Blue Concourse at Sunway Pyramid Mall from 12pm
Friday 14th October to Sunday 16th October. The highlight
of the roadshow is a Pac-Man-styled maze specially designed to be a training
course for participants to equip themselves with tools to combat dengue. They
will need to collect these tools and avoid being caught by Mr. Dengue’s
‘mosquitoes’ who will act as ‘ghosts’ in the Pac-Man-styled game. Learn fast,
complete the course without ‘meeting’ Mr. Dengue’s minions and win special Mr.
Dengue premiums! The public can also learn how to build their own mosquito
traps as well as identify mosquito breeding areas in a home as part of the
planned activities to encourage you and your family to practice good dengue
prevention habits.
Head to www.facebook.com/mymrdengue and
‘like’ the page to receive dengue awareness and prevention information on your
Facebook timeline. Download the
‘Protection Against Dengue’ brochure on the Meet Mr Dengue Tab at the Facebook
page to keep up to date on dengue prevention habits.
Additionally, take the Dengue Readiness
Quiz at www.denguemissionbuzz.org
to find out how prepared you are against the disease
About Sanofi
Sanofi, a global healthcare
leader, discovers, develops and distributes therapeutic solutions focused on
patients' needs. Sanofi is organized into five global business units: Diabetes
and Cardiovascular, General Medicines and Emerging Markets, Sanofi Genzyme,
Sanofi Pasteur and Merial. Sanofi is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: SAN) and in New York (NYSE: SNY).
Sanofi
Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, provides more than 1 billion doses of
vaccine each year, making it possible to immunize more than 500 million people
across the globe. A world leader in the vaccine industry, Sanofi Pasteur
produces a portfolio of high quality vaccines that matches its areas of
expertise and meets public-health demand. The company's heritage, to create
vaccines that protect life, dates back more than a century. Sanofi Pasteur is
the largest company entirely dedicated to vaccines. Every day, the company
invests more than EUR 1 million in research and development. For more
information, please visit: www.sanofipasteur.com or www.sanofipasteur.us
Forward
Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking
statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements
include projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements
regarding plans, objectives, intentions and expectations with respect to future
financial results, events, operations, services, product development and
potential, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking
statements are generally identified by the words "expects",
"anticipates", "believes", "intends",
"estimates", "plans" and similar expressions. Although
Sanofi's management believes that the expectations reflected in such
forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that
forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and
uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the
control of Sanofi, that could cause actual results and developments to differ
materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the
forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties
include among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and
development, future clinical data and analysis, including post marketing,
decisions by regulatory authorities, such as the FDA or the EMA, regarding
whether and when to approve any drug, device or biological application that may
be filed for any such product candidates as well as their decisions regarding
labelling and other matters that could affect the availability or commercial
potential of such product candidates, the absence of guarantee that the product
candidates if approved will be commercially successful, the future approval and
commercial success of therapeutic alternatives, Sanofi's ability to benefit
from external growth opportunities and/or obtain regulatory clearances, risks
associated with intellectual property and any related pending or future
litigation and the ultimate outcome of such litigation, trends in
exchange rates and prevailing interest rates, volatile economic conditions, the
impact of cost containment initiatives and subsequent changes thereto, the
average number of shares outstanding as well as those discussed or identified
in the public filings with the SEC and the AMF made by Sanofi, including those
listed under "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Statement Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements" in Sanofi's annual report on Form 20-F for the
year ended December 31, 2015. Other than as required by applicable law, Sanofi
does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
information or statements.