FROM January to Oct. 26 this year the Provincial Health Office recorded 1,469 dengue hemorrhagic fever cases with six deaths. The 10-month figure was 35 percent higher than the 1,086 cases with seven deaths recorded in 2017.
Dengue cases are rising. This is no longer just a rainy season disease. Cases are being reported nationwide throughout the year. The situation we face today is more serious. For this all-year-round illness, we must get our acts together. If left unchecked, it would only be a matter of time before dengue becomes a national health crisis.
But while unchecked dengue cases pose a threat to government resources, this is not only a government problem. Each household, on its own, can contribute to curbing the spread of this disease. While the government, indeed, has the main responsibility to protect the health of its citizens, we, too, have a counterpart responsibility to help the government. Still, it would be prudent for the Duterte administration to strengthen community-based health programs in developing better healthcare in general, and stopping dengue in particular.
Community-based health programs – manned by volunteer community health workers – have been at the forefront of providing healthcare services and education since the 1970s. These are people helping people, volunteers from poor families who provide services and basic health education to their fellow poor families, especially in rural and frontier areas.
At this time of alarming dengue cases, the invaluable role of community health workers should be maximized. They fill in the gaps where there are no doctors and nurses.
People-based health programs and activities work because they are anchored on people’s direct participation, on commitment despite the odds, and on communal welfare rather than on narrow self-interests. This is a big step towards curbing the spread of dengue.
