APD | Philippine health authorities alarmed with surge in Dengue cases

By APD writer Melo M. Acuña

MANILA, July 17 (APD) – The Department of Health has expressed alarm as they noted a surge in dengue cases with over 100,000 incidents reported to the government from January 1 to June 29, 2019.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) said Philippine government authorities reported an 85 percent increase from the same period last year.

Last Monday, the Department of Health declared a National Dengue Alert and called on regional Health officials to intensify their disease surveillance, case management and outbreak response in health facilities and hospitals and community and school-based health education campaigns, clean-up drives and logistics support for dengue control.

According to the United Nations’ Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization cited drought and water shortages as related to the onset of El Nino led people to collect water in containers and an increase in mosquito breeding places.

Five regions have had a critical number of victims and as such, have all exceeded the number for an epidemic to be declared. It was learned that from the 106,630 cases in 2019, there were 456 deaths, the highest number of incidents and deaths from 2015.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)