DOH-ARMM taps youth, social media in campaign versus dengue

• Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=7&rid=899944
• Thursday, June 30, 2016

(PNA), FFC/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, June 30 (PNA) -- The Department of Health in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DOH-ARMM) today urged the youth and the community to take active roles in addressing health issues such as dengue.

Dengue, a killer diseases, is a year-round public health threat and the number of dengue cases in the region is expected to increase, especially that the wet season has started, said Dr. Kadil Sinolinding, DOH-ARMM Secretary

“The number of dengue cases was down (from last year’s figures)," However, Sinolinding said DOH-ARMM will not be complacent and will continue its campaign to control and prevent this disease.

At least 78 dengue cases with one fatality have been recorded across the ARMM region during the first quarter of this year.

Sinolinding said the number is significantly lower compared with the first quarter of 2015, where 487 cases with five fatalities were reported. This year’s figures indicated roughly an 84 percent decline in the number of cases.

Last year, DOH-ARMM recorded a total of 2,376 dengue cases with 24 deaths across the region. Marawi City has the highest number of cases with 758 followed by Maguindanao province with 614 cases.

Data for the second quarter of this year is still being validated by DOH-ARMM.

Sinolinding stressed that the key to control and to prevent the spread of dengue is correct information relayed to residents, especially to home decision makers like fathers and mothers.

A massive information drive, including symposiums, will be conducted in public schools in the region to create awareness among the members of the community, the DOH-ARMM secretary said.

On June 22, DOH-ARMM in coordination with the region’s Department of Education (DepEd-ARMM) held a dengue symposium at Tenorio Elementary School in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

The activity was in line with the celebration of the ASEAN Dengue Day and was attended by around 200 Grade 6 students along with teachers and school nurses from DepEd-ARMM.

Dr. Sinolinding said the information drive targets public school children since they are the most vulnerable sector in the population because of their exposure to the environment where cases of dengue exist.

"We are giving them enough knowledge and information to prevent, control, and to make ways if ever thisdisease will penetrate their households or if they become the victims,” he said.

"They can spread the information they will acquire to their friends, neighbors, family members, and to anyone in their community,” he added.

Aside from radio and mainstream media, Sinolinding said DOH-ARMM is making use of the social media, even through Facebook, the most popular medium of the youth, as means to bring across the message how to avoid the killer, yet highly preventable, disease.

Aside from the symposium, the agency also distributed five Olyset mosquito net rolls to the school. Each roll is 25 meters long and can cover up to six classroom windows.

Sinolinding said that the symposium is just the beginning of the campaign. DOH-ARMM will tap local government units for continuous education and campaign.

He asked ARMM residents to observe the ‘4S’ in dengue prevention and control. The ‘4S’ means: Search and destroy; Seek immediate action; Say no to indiscriminate fogging; andSelf-protection measures.

Dengue is an acute viral infection acquired from the bite of a female Aedes aegypti mosquito. This fatal disease usually affects infants and children in tropical and subtropical countries like the Philippines.

Its signs and symptoms include fever that extends from two to seven days, skin flushing, loss of appetite, vomiting, and in severe cases, nose bleeding and bleeding of gums.