More than half of the total cases of measles-rubella in the country were reported from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) based on the data from the Department of Health (DOH).
“BARMM continues to report the most number of cases of Measles-Rubella in the Philippines, with 1,481 cases as of March 16, 2024, more than half of the 2,661 total cases in the country,” DOH said in a statement released Friday, March 29.
Addressing measles outbreak
Officials of DOH and Ministry of Health (MOH) BARMM met early this week in Cotabato City to address the outbreak of measles in the region.
BARMM Chief Minister Al-hajj Murad Ebrahim and Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Zul Qarneyn Abas received Health Secretary Dr. Teodoro J. Herbosa and DOH Undersecretary Dr. Abdullah B. Dumama, Jr. along with other health officials and staff.
"In this holiest of months for both Muslims and Christians, the DOH joins our sisters and brothers in MOH BARMM to protect Filipino children,” Herbosa said.
“We are ready as one country to fight Measles, dahil sa Bagong Pilipinas, Bawat Buhay ay Mahalaga," he added.
The DOH-MOH team met with local health executives and offices such as the Integrated Provincial Health Office Maguindanao to ensure that they have the support they need to combat the ongoing Measles outbreak.
The team checked on the local Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC) to facilitate coordination, monitoring, and reporting of the outbreak response interventions.
The team also met with health staff of all levels of government, as well as development partners such as WHO and UNICEF country representatives to ensure readiness for Measles outbreak response immunization (MORI) and case monitoring and management.
DOH said “intensive and simultaneous” vaccination in all barangays of BARMM will start from April 1 to 12.
MOH BARMM plans to continue vaccination even after this period in a push for maximum coverage needed to protect Bangsamoro children.
Meanwhile, the DOH Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) reported performing over 1,000 confirmatory tests for Measles and Rubella (MR), together with seven other Vaccine Preventable Disease Referral Laboratories (VPD-RLs) in the country. The seven VPD-RLs are the Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital, Ilocos Training Regional and Medical Center, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Western Visayas Medical Center, Southern Philippines Medical Center, Cotabato Regional and Medical Center (CRMC), and Zamboanga City Medical Center.
RITM and CRMC can process up to 900 MR confirmatory tests per day.