EARLY consultations and an intensified grassroots education campaign are being undertaken by the City Health Office (CHO) to reduce dengue cases in Cagayan de Oro for the remainder of the year.
“We have this program called ‘Family Health Advocacy Campaign for Partners’ in which the barangay health workers take the lead to raise awareness not only on dengue prevention but also other diseases. But we (emphasize) on dengue cases especially in our public schools,” said CHO health education officer Reagan Abbu during the ‘Health Watch’ program hosted by the City Information Office.
To complement the health education campaign on dengue prevention, Abbu said City Hall’s sanitation inspectors distributed ‘olyset nets’ or insecticidal nets to the city’s public schools.
“As of now, we’ve distributed these nets to nearly all public schools in the city. These treated nets are hung at the windows or the doors of the classrooms to help ward off dengue-carrying mosquitoes,” Abbu said.
Abbu said their health education and sanitation campaign efforts had been paying off as dengue cases went down from triple digits in January to February to only double digits from March to May this year.
“The sanitation inspectors are visiting the schools to make sure these nets are set up. The other schools will set up these nets (once they open their school calendar year),” Abbu said.
The sanitary inspectors also conduct larvae sample surveys on potential breeding grounds of dengue-carrying mosquitoes.
“On these identified sites, the sanitary inspectors take larvae samples, and once verified, they place larvaecidal chemicals (to kill these breeding sites),” Abbu said.
What’s important is that city residents must keep their surroundings clean to prevent these mosquitoes from breeding, he said.
“That’s why we are encouraged by this ‘Klarex Kalimpyo sa Komunidad (conducted by the City Hall bureaucracy every third Friday of the month) because it’s very important for us to help reduce the incidence of diseases through sanitation,” Abbu said.
He also encouraged families to seek early consultation via ‘dengue fast lanes’ in the city’s barangay health centers.
“Our office conducts free examinations for those seeking help. Even if it’s only one’s first day of fever, we have tools that can verify if one has dengue (or low platelets). Compared to when one undergoes an examination in private hospitals, he or she must pay P2,000 at least. To avail of free exams the families should head to their barangay health center (for referral to our office,” Abbu said. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)
