ZAMBOANGA City Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar urged agencies and departments concerned to exhaust all means to address the dengue problem even as she called for greater community participation in the prevention and control of the mosquito-borne disease.
Salazar, through the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), called an inter-agency coordinating meeting on Friday, August 9, to further intensify the response to the increasing dengue cases in this city.
This after over 4,000 dengue cases have been reported by the City Health Office since January with mortality count reaching 23 as of July 31.
The mayor is expected to issue an executive order relative to the issue, particularly to direct barangay officials to participate more actively, stressing on the importance of counter-parting in the fight against dengue.
She has also directed the mobilization of all available resources to address the dengue which has been declared a national epidemic.
The main goal is to reduce the number of cases primarily through consistent and sustained search-and-destroy activities, the mayor added. (SunStar Philippines)