ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanews/22 July) – The City Health Office has launched a “Zero Dengue, Act Now” initiative aimed to step up awareness of the dengue disease in the wake of a steady number of dengue cases registered in this city.
City Health Officer Dr. Rodelin Agbulos said the two-Saturday campaign, launched on July 21, targets the search and destroy approach in the top five barangays with the most number of registered dengue cases: Guiwan, Lunzuran, Putik, Tetuan, Tugbungan and Tumaga, all located east of this city.
Agbulos said the campaign involves house-to-house visitation to encourage and to educate the residents on how to best rid the surroundings and households of dengue carrier mosquitoes.
He said the house-to-house campaign involves the participation of the City Health Office, Department of Education (DepEd), Philippine Air Force (PAF), barangays, City General Services Office (CGSO), beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and other sectors.
A Dengue Summit will be held on Wednesday to complement the two-Saturday (July 21 and July 28) “Zero Dengue, Act Now” initiative, he said.
Invited as the summit’s resource speakers are officials from the Department of Health central office. At least 300 participants from the different sectors like education barangay sector, religious groups, civic organizations, hospitals, and non-government organizations, are expected to attend the Summit.
Mayor Celso Lobregat has called on the public to intensify efforts to combat dengue, stressing the government’s campaign will be futile without the support and cooperation of all sectors.
Lobregat emphasized that dengue prevention and control must be a continuous and joint effort of the city government, the barangay officials, the individual households and all sectors.
The city government declared a dengue outbreak last May 10 in view of the mounting cases of dengue and the increased number of deaths cause by the mosquito-borne disease.
Records at the City Health Office showed that there were 1,912 cases of dengue cases with 22 fatalities registered since January.
Last year, there were only 533 cases of dengue with eight fatalities registered covering the same period. (MindaNews)
