Simultaneous province-wide cleanup to prevent mosquito-borne diseases
The Provincial Health Office (PHO) created a “3-in-1 task force” to prevent the increase of cases of mosquito-borne diseases in Cebu.
This task force is solely for the prevention of chikungunya, dengue and Zika virus in the whole province.
PHO’s public health head Dr. Niño Ismael Pastor said the task force wants to conduct a simultaneous province-wide, cleanup drive and misting in public schools, households, and rivers among others.
“As soon as possible. The problem is that the mosquito’s moving target is within a three- to five-kilometer range so we need to do this simultaneously,” Pastor said in Cebuano.
In order to do a simultaneous cleanup drive and misting, the provincial government tapped the help of national agencies like Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Department of Education (DepEd), Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), Philippine Councilors League among others.
Pastor said that while there are no reported cases of the Zika virus in the province, there were five cases of chikungunya recently and there were more than 4,900 cases of dengue from January to September.
Pastor said they already tested the four persons in Pinamungajan and one in Balamban who were positive for chikungunya. This, after the Department of Health wanted those people to be tested again for the Zika virus.
He said that the three diseases, Zika, chikungunya and dengue, have the same symptoms. But Zika virus affects the unborn child.
“Ang Zika, ang dengue parehas ra pero ang effect sa Zika naa sa bata. Mild ra siya pero ang bata mogamay ang ulo. Usa pa man very minimal ang risks sa Zika (Zika, dengue disease are much of the same but the effect of Zika is more on the unborn child. The child will usually have a smaller head. And Zika has minimal risks),” Pastor said.
The PHO will also conduct health education and information on these three mosquito-borne diseases on schools and communities.
Even if the Zika virus has a low fatality rate, the public is still encouraged to keep their surroundings clean.
“Keep clean always. Maintain the 4 o’clock habit. If you have fever, rashes, joint pains, immediately seek medical help,” Pastor urged.
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