Sunday, September 07, 2008 Barangays seek info materials to fight dengue
SOME Cebu City barangays are asking City Hall for information and education campaign (IEC) materials for dengue awareness, and for it to prioritize drainage problems in flooded areas to prevent an outbreak.
The barangay captains of Luz and Basak Pardo told the City Council last Wednesday that they need the IEC materials to sustain the positive results of their anti-dengue drive.
With fewer dengue cases and deaths so far this year compared to the same period last year, both barangays reported improvements in the dengue situation in their areas.
Basak Pardo’s Dave Tumulak blamed flooding in seven sitios for the high number of dengue cases in his barangay.
He appealed for the City to fund the drainage system in these sitios, which get flooded with water flowing from Punta Princesa, Quiot and Basak San Nicolas.
He said that last year, he proposed the opening of a creek or river to serve as catch basin for water from the three barangays.
The program of works and estimates, however, pegged the required budget at P20 million, which the barangay cannot afford.
“So we’re asking City Hall to help us with this... Bisag gamay ra ang uwan, mubaha gyud sa pito ka sitio (A slight rain already causes flooding in the seven sitios),” Tumulak told the council in last Wednesday’s regular session.
The council has invited barangay captains to attend sessions in the coming weeks to brief members on what they have been doing to prevent dengue in their jurisdictions.
Aside from information campaign, Luz and Basak Pardo have also conducted pulong-pulong sessions (informal gatherings) in the different sitios and spraying activities using insecticides.
From January to August this year, the City Health Department recorded 932 dengue cases with 38 deaths.
The number of cases is slightly higher compared to the same period last year, which saw 854 cases and 13 deaths.
During the session, councilors also lauded the barangay officials present for their effort because the number of dengue cases for July and August this year is much lower compared to the same months last year.
Last year, there were 220 cases in July and 352 in August. This year, the numbers went down with only 104 cases in July and 102 in August. (LCR)
