“INTENSIFY information dissemination.”

The appeal came from Bacolod City Councilor Claudio Puentevella, who is the chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Health, amid the threat posed by the monkeypox disease.

In a resolution he filed last week, Puentevella is requesting the City Health Office to spearhead thru Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez to spearhead the information drive.

Puentevella said that Section 15 of Article I of the 1987 Philippine constitution stressed that the state should protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them.

He said that the World Health Organization (WHO) on July 23, this year, declared the escalating global monkeypox outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Puentevella also said that this is an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other states through the global spread of the disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response.

Last week, the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) was ordered by Benitez to tighten the monitoring of arrivals as a measure against the spread of the monkeypox virus after the first case of the disease was confirmed by the Department of Health (DOH).

Monitoring efforts will be conducted in conjunction with the Negros Occidental provincial government.

The DOH confirmed that the first case of monkeypox in the Philippines was a 31-year-old male returning Filipino who has travel history in areas with

WHO describes Monkeypox as a rare disease caused by infection with a virus that is also part of the same family of viruses as variola virus that causes smallpox.

The international agency noted that the transmission can occur from direct contact with the blood, bodily fluids or cutaneous or muscular lesions of infected individuals.

“Through proper information dissemination regarding the health risk imposed by monkeypox, the people of Bacolod are informed on the proper ways to prevent the spread of the disease,” Puentevella reiterated.