ILOILO City – An anti-dengue task force in each of the 180 villages in the city is proposed in anticipation of the increase in the cases of the mosquito-borne disease.
Councilor Candice Magdalane Tupas raised the proposal during a Sangguniang Panlungod regular session this week since the “three-year cycle of dengue is about to arrive.”
Tupas said the task force will spearhead the implementation of dengue control and prevention program in the city.
In 2016, the city government also passed a resolution establishing a weekly cleanup to prevent the spread of dengue.
“It is endemic but what we want to happen is to decrease the incidence of dengue patients in the city. We lost lives due to dengue. We don’t have a treatment yet. It’s only supportive treatment meaning proper hydration,” she said.
A report from the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit of the Department of Health-Center for Health Development in Western Visayas showed that 347 cases of dengue with two deaths were recorded in the city from Jan. 1 to March 9.
This posted a 382-percent increase in the number of dengue cases.
In the same period last year, only 72 cases were recorded. There were no deaths. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
