ROXAS CITY, Capiz, July 19 (PIA6 ) -- Capiceños affirm their commitment in the fight against dengue.
In a Provincial Dengue Summit held July 18 in Capiz led by the Provincial Health Office in partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government, top provincial officials headed by Provincial Administrator lawyer Jose O. Villanueva, who represented Governor Victor Tanco, took the lead in the pledge of commitment to fight dengue.
Municipal mayors Joselito Escutin of Dao and Generoso Derramas of Panitan, together with the other stakeholders including the representatives from the different local government units, national government agencies, private groups and the media likewise pledged to do the task.
Villanueva, in his message, stressed the fight against dengue needs a political will to let the people and the community realize and understand that there is another problem so big to face and measures against it must be done in order not to repeat the 2010 scenario when Capiz had a dengue outbreak.
He urged all local government officials from the municipal to the barangay level, including the various partners such as the academe and media to have that political will in order to win once more the battle against dengue.
Villanueva said that people in the community must take participation in the drive to stamp out the spread of dengue using the 4 S strategy, namely search and destroy, self protection, seek early consultation and say no to indiscriminate fogging.
In addition, the strict observance by everybody of the 4 o’clock habit of cleaning the surrounding must be ensued, he said.
On the other hand, Capiz Provincial Health Office head Dr. Samuel Delfin revealed that from January 1 to July 23,2013, the Capiz Epidemiological Surveillance and Response Unit (CESRU) recorded a total of 1,224 dengue cases, of which 1,164 cases are from Capiz and the remaining 60 cases came from other provinces but were confined in the hospitals here.
Delfin said that compared to the same period last year where there was only 216 cases, there is a 467 percent increase in the number of dengue cases here, with Roxas City having the most number at 490.
In the municipalities, the towns of Mambusao topped among others in the recorded number of dengue cases with 86 cases, followed by Jamindan, Ivisan, Sigma and Sapian, he said.
According to him, information campaign has been intensified in partnership with the various sectors like the non-government organizations and religious sectors aside from regularly informing the LGUs about the status of their dengue cases for them to take appropriate action in respective areas to address the problem. (JCM/JBG/PIA6-Capiz)
