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Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Cabaero: Who's in charge of dengue fight
By Nini B. Cabaero
Beyond 30
Lost in the swirl of hurt feelings and libel threats among Cebu City legislators and a health official over the dengue scare is a piece of information vital to public health.
This is for the public, and the government that would implement it, not to rely on the use of insecticides to stop the spread of the disease.
Fogging or the spraying of chemicals would only push the dengue-carrying mosquitoes to places still not protected. With fogging or spraying as the primary method of attack, the dengue scare would just move from one place to another; and not all areas would be protected at the same time.
Yet this warning is apparently not being heeded because some councilors are enraged about City Health Department Chief Fe Cabugao’s earlier statement that the chemicals were not needed and a radio commentator’s questions as to their motives in setting the purchase of the chemicals.
As of last Aug. 16, the number of dengue cases in the city reached 767.
Of these, 21 deaths were recorded since January. Based on regional numbers, Central Visayas or Region 7 ranked third highest in the country with a total of 1,200 cases, including 26 deaths, as of last July 25.
Cebu City councilors immediately went on emergency mode and wanted to set aside P3 million to addresses the sharp rise in such cases. Mayor Tomas Osmeña found alarming not only the number of deaths traced to dengue but the public’s apparent lack of concern about making their surroundings free of the dengue-carrying mosquito. The Department of Health (DOH) here said it would focus its efforts on environmental sanitation. Part of the funds from the City Government would be used to purchase the chemical for fogging or spraying.
It was Enrique Tayag, director of the DOH National Epidemiology Center, who discouraged fogging or the use of chemicals because, he said, this only kills the adult mosquitoes but not the larvae. The practice just drives away the mosquitoes to areas where there was no dengue before.
Tayag suggested a three-pronged approach: elimination of breeding
sites, prevention of bites and prompt detection and immediate treatment.
So, the situation comes to this. While Cabugao is busy explaining herself to the aggrieved councilors, this advice of Tayag is not being acted upon. While the councilors are thinking of bringing a media person to court for libel, people, most of them children, are lying on hospital beds waiting for blood donations.
The situation in the city is awaiting a coordinated and more focused approach, yet legislators and the city’s health officer are locked in explaining away the planned purchase of chemicals. The dengue situation begs the question—who’s in charge?
(ninicab@sunstar.com.ph)
(August 23, 2005 issue)
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