CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Provincial health officer Dr. Marcelo Jaochico said the decrease in the number of dengue cases in Pampanga was brought about by the Provincial Government’s intensive campaign in preventing the spread of dengue.
“This was also achieved through the extensive participation and coordination of the local government units concerned and initiative of the Governor in intensifying the campaign against dengue even before the rainy season started,” Jaochico said.
Dengue cases and deaths in the province as of July 27, 2019 showed only 1,404 cases, a decrease of almost 50 percent from the 2,487 cases in the same period in 2018.
Pampanga also recorded a considerable decrease in the number of deaths with three deaths recorded as of July, lower than the eight recorded deaths in 2018.
He added that it was the policy of Governor and now Vice Governor Lilia “Nanay” Pineda, and incumbent Governor Dennis “Delta” Pineda, to coordinate with local government executives to further efforts in intensifying their campaigns against dengue.
The Barangay Dengue Task Force, Nanay Community Workers (NCW), Rural Health Workers (RHW), Municipal Health Workers (MHU), and midwives intervention were also strengthened to provide surveillance and response to dengue cases and other public health diseases especially to those who are in far-flung areas.
“We have our regular search and destroy operations and clean-up drives in the communities led by our dengue task force to eliminate breeding grounds of mosquitoes, which transmit the disease,” Jaochico said.
At present, at least 25 barangays are placed under dengue hotspots areas, while seven have a clustering of cases.
Mabalacat City has the most number of dengue cases at 230 which accounts for 16 percent of the total cases in the province. This was followed by the City of San Fernando with 165 cases.
“We are currently monitoring these barangays as per the instruction of our Governor. We already asked the barangay task forces to conduct mist blowing or spray blowing to prevent the spread of mosquitoes in the residential areas,” Joachico said.
Currently, there are 10,637 confirmed dengue cases in Central Luzon.
Majority of the dengue cases in the region were from the provinces of Tarlac (24 percent), Bulacan (23 percent) and Nueva Ecija (17 percent). There are currently nine recorded deaths in the region as of July this year.
In 2018, the whole region recorded some 13,311 cases with 42 recorded deaths.