(PNA file photo)
DAVAO CITY – The City Health Office (CHO) on Friday called on all villages to create their own Barangay Mosquito-Borne Viral Disease Task Force to help address the rising number of dengue cases here.
Since January this year, the CHO has logged 1,506 dengue cases, significantly higher than the 1,052 cases for the same period last year.
In a statement, CHO tropical diseases division chief Melodina Babante said 28 deaths due to dengue were recorded for the past seven months this year.
She added that the dengue mortality figure was also higher by 15 deaths compared to the same period last year.
“Having the task force helps in conducting a consolidated effort to prevent the propagation of dengue-carrying mosquitos by searching and clearing breeding grounds,” Babante said.
In addition, she said the task force could also monitor the human population under their area of responsibility for early signs of infection and deter an outbreak with early intervention.
Currently, only nine of the 182 barangays in the city have active anti-dengue task forces and have reported the least number of infections for the past several years.
“The CHO is empowering the barangay officials to assist in the intervention of this disease because the CHO cannot do the interventions alone. They, especially our residents, are the key to fighting this dengue disease” Babante said.
She added that the high number of dengue cases is caused by the unpredictable weather patterns that aid in the breeding of mosquitoes that carry dengue. (PNA)
