DOH chief pushes info drive against dengue as cases rise

BAGUIO CITY –   Dr. Amelita Pangilinan, Dept. of Health Cordillera regional director, said they have already written the local chief executives, governors and city mayors to re-activate their A-B-K-D or their “Aksyon Bantay kontra dengue” task forces and observe the 4 o’clock habit as dengue cases are still rising.

“We should not be complacent because we have already 4,327 cases from January 1 to August 3 and nine deaths,” she told Cordillera leaders during the joint meeting of the Regional Development Council-Peace and Order Council last week.

She said nine percent or 107 of the 1,176 barangays in the region have recorded clustering of cases, which the DOH has started to continuously monitor. 

She said the DOH repeatedly called on the public to destroy mosquito breeding grounds.

They have also alerted the disaster councils and the local government units to help spread the information for the need to maintain cleanliness by destroying possible breeding grounds.

She said while the Cordillera nor any of the provinces of the region had been identified as an area of concern due to the increasing number of dengue cases, the region must not be complacent.

This, as the Baguio City government intensified its information awareness campaign to combat the rising dengue cases as more than half of the villages have recorded cases of the mosquito-borne disease.

Dr. Celia Flor Brillantes, assistant city health officer, said they have also been repeatedly calling on residents to clean their surroundings to destroy the breeding areas of mosquito-carrying dengue.

“We are doing a massive information campaign in households. There is continued surveillance of cases, the sanitation, and cleaning of surroundings especially in areas where there is a clustering of cases,” Brillantes said on Friday.

“Most important kailangan walang lamok (there should be no mosquitoes),” she added.

Based on the city health office data, Baguio recorded 292 cases January 1 to July 27, 2019. This is 29.77 percent higher compared to the same period last year with 252 cases. There is one death involving an 81-year-old.

The city health office has recorded cases of dengue in 77 villages out of the 128 villages.

                The barangays with highest incidence of dengue are: Honeymoon (39 cases); Irisan (23 cases); Asin Road and Loakan Proper (with 13 cases each), Pinget (12 cases); Bakakeng Central and Camp 7 (with 11 cases each); Aurora Hill Proper (10 cases), Pinsao Proper (eight cases); ABCR and Pacdal (seven cases each) and Santo Tomas Proper and Slaughter House area (six cases each). -- PNA