Groups unite to fight dengue

GROUPS coming from different sectors of the society in Zamboanga City have forged a partnership on Thursday to fight dengue, a mosquito-borne disease.

The Dengue Action Team is composed of village chiefs, school principals, health practitioners, police and military officers and other organizations.

The number of dengue cases in the city already reached 372 with nine fatalities for the first two months in 2013, the City Health Office said.

In 2012, dengue claimed 37 lives and with 4,028 cases, which prompted the City Government to declare an outbreak.

City Health Officer Dr. Rodel Agbulos said on Thursday that with the latest statistics there is a need for all stakeholders in the community to stand united in the fight against dengue.

Agbulos’ office has scheduled the conduct of a massive clean-up drive on Saturday in villages with high cases of dengue.

Mayor Celso Lobregat said the clean-up campaign should first zero in on the specific households with dengue cases, then in the immediate neighborhood, the community and the village as a whole.

Lobregat also directed Evelyn Las Marias, officer-in-charge of the City Social Welfare and Development Office, to tap the incoming summer job students in the anti-dengue clean-up campaign.

The Navy, Bureau of Fire Protection, Western Mindanao Command, Task Force Zamboanga, Philippine Air Force, the Zamboanga City Police Office and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology have also pledged support for the cleanup campaign on Saturday.