by:
Rhea Grace A. La Plana
Ipil,
Zamboanga
Sibugay – The Department of Health (DOH) in coordination with
the Sibugay Provincial Health Office (PHO) conducted on Friday, July 22, a
training of trainers on Zika virus and other health programs at Ricomar
Restaurant here.
“DOH is geared toward preventing and
controlling infectious diseases from becoming public health problems. We are in
all out effort to reduce emerging and re-emerging infectious health problems” Mr.
Cristobert D. Bermudez, development management officer of the DOH said.
“The emerging infectious diseases are those
newly identified or previously unknown infections whose incidence threatens to
increase in the near future while the re-emerging infectious illnesses are infections
secondary to the reappearance of a previously eliminated diseases or an
unexpected increase in the number of previously known infectious diseases,” he
explained.
Development Management Officer Erlita S.
Taray also intensively discussed dengue, Zika virus and Chikungunya, saying, “it
is very important to search and destroy potential breeding sites in order to
prevent the spread of the Aedes mosquitoes that serve as the vector of the
virus.”
Representing Provincial Health Officer
Ulysses Chiong, Ms. Florna R. Agbayani, supervising administrative officer and
chief of the technical division of the PHO expressed her gratitude to the
support extended by the participants, as she emphasized that prevention and
cure are the very core of responding appropriately to the emerging and
re-emerging diseases.
Moreover, Ms. Angelica Panganiban, head of
the DOH’s Health Emergency Management Staff also apprised the participants that
a total of 220 dengue cases have been recorded in the province, one case on
Chikungunya at Barangay Tipan in Naga town, and none for Zika virus.
DOH
is urging everyone to be active in community programs and to give utmost
importance to health, strengthen surveillance and preparedness for any health
problem.
