ILOILO City – Next month personnel of the City Health Office (CHO) will be going around the metropolis to vaccinate children against measles / tetanus diphtheria (TD) and human papillomavirus (HPV).
They will also be giving iron supplements and deworm school children.
On July 3 the CHO, in partnership with the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Education (DepEd) and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), launched the “School Health Related Services” program at Iloilo City National High School and Molo I Elementary School.
The targets were school children in grades 1, 4, 7, 12, and kindergarten pupils.
Measles-rubella and tetanus-diptheria (MR-TD) will be given to grades 1 and 7 pupils.
Grade 4 female pupils will be given with HPV.
Kindergarten to Grade 12 pupils will be dewormed.
Weekly Iron Folic Acid (WIFA) supplementation will be given to grades 7 and 10 female pupils.
DOH-6 targets to deworm 74,275 pupils; immunize 5,387 Grade 1 pupils; 3,720 Grade 4 female pupils; 6,409 Grade 7 pupils; and give iron supplementation to 11,568 female adolescents in Iloilo City.
“We assure the parents that all school health-related services of the DOH and CHO are safe, effective and free,” said Dr. Renilyn Reyes, DOH-Western Visayas Family Health and Nutrition Cluster head.
Iloilo City Schools Division Superintendent Clarissa Zamora said these services were in line with the government’s Sustainable Development Goal No. 4 (quality education).
“The goal is inclusive and equitable quality education. When we say inclusive this must be education for all. We must maintain quality learners, quality teachers and conducive learning environment for students and teachers in our educational institutions. Quality learners mean that they have good health and their wellness are taken cared of by our educational leaders,” Zamora said.
“Our health is our wealth and our children are the hope of our country and so, we have to give them the best not only in education but also in health. At DOH, one of our strategies is the integration of services in order to maximize our efforts and this includes the provision of immunization and deworming among students and giving supplementation to female students,” said DOH assistant regional director Dr. Maria Julia Villanueva. (Merianne Grace Ereñeta, Iloilo City PIO/PN)
