Dengue outbreak declared in BARMM
COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 1 July) – The Ministry of Health in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MOH-BARMM) has declared a dengue outbreak after the mosquito-borne disease claimed 18 lives from January to June this year.
Dr. Zul Qarneyn Abas, BARMM health minister, said there were only two deaths during the same period last year.
As of June 30, Abas said, MOH-BARMM has recorded 928 dengue cases across the region.
“We surpassed the alert threshold or the epidemiological threshold,” he said, adding the increase was almost three or four times from last year’s 398 cases.`
He noted that Lanao del Sur, Marawi City and Maguindanao registered the highest number of dengue cases.
At the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center, the number of dengue cases was also alarming for health frontliners.
CRMC chief Dr. Ishmael Dimaren said that as of Friday over 600 dengue cases had been admitted to the hospital, although many were already discharged.
He said MOH-BARMM has donated a 100-bed isolation facility for dengue patients to address the rising number of cases.
He said that since dengue cases are also increasing other parts of the country, climate change could have something to do with in.
He noted that even during “summer”, the term Filipinos use to refer to the country’s dry season, there was plenty of rain.
To contain the surge, Abas asked provincial and municipal health officials to come up with a more aggressive strategy to arrest the outbreak.
Foremost among the strategies is to seek everybody’s participation in eradicating dengue virus-carrying mosquitoes, he said.
“Second is we will intensify our advocacy on practicing the 4S strategy,” he added.
The 4S strategy refers to search and destroy, seek immediate action, say no to indiscriminate fogging, and self-protection measures. (Ferdinandh Cabrera/MindaNews)
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