Mayor orders larvicide campaign, info drive against dengue
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is asking the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CCDRRMC) to declare the city under a state of preparedness following the increase of dengue cases in the city.
The status would allow the city to tap its disaster funds, said Councilor Dave Tumulak, who said he would push this proposal in next week’s City Council session.
A total of 831 dengue cases were reported by the City Health Department from January to September this year compared to 763 cases for the same period last year.
Rama met with department heads yesterday to identify five priorities.
These include a massive campaign to use larvicide in potential breeding grounds of mosquitos such as stagnant pools of water.
Another approach is suctioning of stagnant water.
“If we don’t do things now, it could reach an outbreak. Dengue is everybody’s business,” he said.
Since the use of larvicide has proven effective in preventing dengue cases, the mayor said he wants a massive campaign, not just a quarterly activity.
This makes use of chemicals to eliminate the larvae of mosquitoes in their breeding habitat.
Rama cited the successful use of this method in the anti-dengue campaign in 2012 to 2014.
Two grade school sisters died of dengue last week after they were brought to the hospital on the fourth day of a fever.
The girls reside in a congested neighborhood in barangay Suba, where health officials said the lack of sanitation, light and the presence of damp, wet areas were factors in the dengue case.
The mayor ordered an information drive.
“There is a tri-media and there is the social media which brings the fear factor to scare people. You know, it’s always good to scare people because if they will not get scared, they won’t develop a sense of ‘alarm.’ And one must be alarmed in order to be aware,” Rama said in Cebuano.
Rama ordered all barangays to open their health centers 24/7, especially centers in those identified areas that have high rates of dengue cases.
Rama was referring to five barangays which saw an increase in dengue cases this year.
These are barangays Guadalupe, Pasil, Suba, Pahina San Nicolas and Tisa.