PHOTO: Official website of the Provincial Government of Davao Del Norte (davaodelnorte.gov.ph)
DAVAO CITY – Tagum City, the provincial capital of Davao del Norte, was plunged into a state of calamity after the peak of dengue cases in September this year. Although cases of mosquito-borne diseases decreased this month, the number still exceeded the alert level set by the Department of Health (DOH), the City Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (Cesu) said.
Cesu said dengue cases in the city to a total of 1,074 from January to November this year, which is already more than four times last year’s 251 cases.
“The Department of Health required the city to declare an outbreak when the number of cases already exceeds the threshold,” Mayor Rey Uy said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
He added: “We are sounding the alarm so that the public is better informed and prepared to deal with dengue fever.
Above all, they would be more careful and work to prevent it. The state of emergency, approved by the City Council on November 21, would pave the way for the release of funds to fund the city’s efforts to eradicate mosquito breeding grounds and limit dengue cases in the city.
Cesu also recorded nine dengue deaths in the first 11 months of the year, most of them teenagers and one under 3 years old. Uy, however, explained that the dengue deaths occurred in different months of the year and in different villages of the city.
Uy explained that dengue-affected areas have high population density and the onset of heavy rains that had to leave stagnant water bodies that could easily become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Rae Katherine Apura, the city’s health education promoter, said on Tuesday that of the more than a thousand dengue cases, 623 or 58 percent were children aged 0-9.
He said dengue cases peaked in September at 194 cases, more than double the 80 cases set by the DOH. The number of cases dropped from 140 cases in October to less than 100 cases this November, but the city health department’s awareness campaign to mobilise the public against dengue has not stopped, Apura said.
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