IF THERE was one thing Ilonggos should be thankful for in 2022, it was the failed projection that dengue cases would surge based on the three-year cycle of dengue outbreaks in the region. While there was an uptick in dengue cases last year, they weren’t that too many to cause alarm or prompt a declaration of a state of calamity.
Still, we should not be complacent this 2023. Dengue is no longer just a rainy season disease. Cases are being reported nationwide throughout the year. Thus the situation we face today is more serious.
It would be prudent for the current Marcos 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 during the first Marcos administration. 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.
To combat dengue, 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.
And yes, dengue 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,
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.
