By Hannah Torregoza
Senator Nancy Binay on Sunday took to task the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Health (DOH) and local government units (LGUs) to intensify the information drive against dengue and clean up drive in schools.
Senator Nancy Binay
(Senate of the Philippines official Facebook page / MANILA BULLETIN)
Binay said she is alarmed over reports in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) that dengue fever cases drastically increased by 87 percent in the first 17 of 2018.
And with the onset of the rainy season, the senator said national and local authorities should watch out for rainy season diseases, such as dengue, which she said is usually due to poor sanitation and garbage disposal.
“Nakakabahala po na almost close to 100% ang itinaas ng dengue fever cases sa Cordillera mula Enero hanggang Mayo ng taong ito, according to the DOH (It’s alarming that dengue fever cases increased to close to 100 percent in the Cordillera region from January to May of this year, according to the DOH),” Binay pointed out.
“Pagtulungan po ng health at education departments ang pagpapakalat ng tama at napapanahong impormasyon upang ma-educate ang lahat tungkol sa dengue at kung paano maiiwasan ito, lalo na sa mga paaralan, (I hope our health and education departments would work side by side in disseminating the right and timely information on dengue so the people would know how to avoid this, especially those in schools),” she stressed.
Binay said she believes prevention is always the better option, “so authorities must act immediately to stop or minimize the impact of rainy season diseases, particularly possible outbreaks of dengue fever.
She also said authorities should seriously take a look at the steps to prevent dengue fever, as the country and the rest of the ASEAN commemorates June 15 as Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Dengue Day.
“Meron pong “4S” prevention measures ang DOH laban sa dengue fever. Pagtuunan po sana natin ng pansin ang mga prevention measures dahil mas mura ito, kumpara sa gamutan pag meron ng sakit (The DOH has four S measures to fight dengue fever. Let’s pay attention to these prevention measures because this is cheaper, compared to the expenses you incur when you are struck with dengue),” Binay said.
The 4S stands for search and destroy, self-protection measures, seek early consultation and say no to indiscriminate fogging.
“Authorities should ensure that we minimize or even stop this disease from spreading,” she added.
Citing DOH-Cordillera (DOH-CAR) study, Binay said that out of the total number of dengue cases recorded in the region this year, 266 (29.5%) came from Kalinga; 195 (21.6%) from Benguet; 104 (11.5%) from Baguio City; 76 (8.4%) from Apayao; 67 (7.4%) from Abra; 24 (2.7%) each from Ifugao and Mountain Province; and 147 cases (16.7%) from non-CAR provinces.