FOLLOWING the declaration of a national dengue alert, the Cebu Provincial Health Office (PHO) has alerted all barangay dengue brigades to intensify cleanup and misting operations.
In an interview Tuesday, July 16, 2019, PHO officer-in-charge Sheila Faciol said the barangay dengue brigade plays a huge role in encouraging active community participation in anti-dengue measures.
“We’re expecting a rise in dengue cases for this year,” she added.
Aside from the barangay brigade, Faciol said they are also working closely with schools and local government units (LGU) in the province.
Last week, town officials from Daanbantayan, Consolacion and Borbon requested for misting activities from the PHO as dengue cases in their respective areas continue to increase.
Faciol added that all dengue fast lanes in the 16 provincial and district hospitals will be activated should there be a sudden surge in cases.
Patients that will be served in the dengue fast lanes may avail themselves of free hospital services.
Records from the PHO revealed that there were some 3,333 dengue cases with 16 deaths in the province from January to June 2019.
As of Tuesday morning, raw data from the PHO showed that there are 44 cases for July with one fatality from Barili town.
As of the second week of July, the cities of Danao, Talisay and Toledo, and the towns of Minglanilla, Consolacion, Liloan, Balamban, Bantayan, Cordova and Compostela were the top 10 LGUs with the highest cases of dengue.
“As we have noticed, every three years, the number of dengue cases will increase. We’re just hoping that for this year, it will not reach uncontrollable proportions,” Faciol said.
Dengue cases peaked every three years.
In 2016, Cebu reported 9,063 dengue cases with 74 deaths, while only 2,461 cases with 25 fatalities were reported in 2015.
In 2017, only 4,914 dengue cases with 45 deaths were reported.
But while there were 5,375 reported cases with 26 fatalities in 2018, this was nowhere near the recorded figures in 2016. (RTF)