DOH Official Calls For Everybody’s Cooperation To Address Dengue

Tacloban City — An official of the health department in Eastern Visayas region strongly called on all stakeholders in the community to help address the increasing cases of dengue in the region in a dengue summit held this city.

Dr. Carmen P. Garado, head of the local health services division of the Department of Health (DOH), emphasized in her opening message the importance of working together, to the first batch of participants, comprising of local government unit (LGU)  health officers, sanitary inspectors, dengue brigade, and representatives from some concerned national government agencies coming from the provinces of Biliran, Leyte and Southern Leyte of the Dengue Summit in August 30-31, 2016.

The second batch of participants to the Dengue Summit that will be held on September 1-2, 2016 will come from the provinces of Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar.

“All of us have to really appreciate the problem,” Garado stressed as she presented the increasing statistics of incidence of dengue cases in Region 8 for the period, January 1 to August 26, 2016.

There are 3,520 reported dengue cases or an increase of 272 percent compared to the same period last year and 18 deaths or an increase of 350 percent compared to the same period last year due to dengue in Eastern Visayas, Garado reported.

Garado stressed to the participants to actually realize how important is team intervention because she believes, the current status of dengue cases in the region is  “not just a problem of DOH alone but everyone’s concern.”

She encouraged LGUs and other concerned  national government agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Education (DepEd), Philippine Information Agency (PIA) to work together to be able to do more in addressing the rising incidence of dengue cases in the region for this year.

For his part, Dr. Leonido P. Olobia, DOH 8 program manager for vector-borne disease control program, informed the participants of the two-day summit that “though there is an increasing incidence of dengue cases from January 1 to August 26, 2016, yet Region 8 is one of the two regions in the country that has the lowest recorded dengue cases from 2010 to 2015 based on the latest report from a national daily.”

Olobia also presented to the participants five recommendations for long-term solutions to help address the dengue problem in the region.

Top most of his recommendations is a strong political support for dengue program and other sanitation-related diseases where the active involvement and participation of LGUs are encouraged.

He added that enhanced governance through passage of local ordinance in support to dengue integrated with other sanitation-related diseases is also important.

Olobia also suggested as part of his recommendations,  to institutionalize vector surveillance and not simply single surveys; to always advocate the 4S; and to enhance coordination with DILG, DepEd, DSWD, PIA and other stakeholders. (FJ/rvictoria/PIA Biliran)