Bulacan conducts clean-up drive against dengue
CITY OF MALOLOS – With one purpose of putting an end to the increasing cases of dengue fever in the province, thousands of Bulakenyos showed their all out support to the Provincial Government of Bulacan’s All Out War Against Dengue Campaign as they scoured simultaneously in a province-wide clean up drive to wipe out the breeding sites of dengue-carrying mosquitoes in their respective barangays.
Different Barangay Task Force for the Kalinisan at Kaayusan ng Kapaligiran (KKK) in the 21 towns and three cities in Bulacan with local officials, youth volunteers, mother leaders, and health officers led the search and clean-up operations to destroy the breeding places of ‘aedes aegypti’ and removed receptacles containing stagnant water such as used tires, vases, and bottles among others.
Gov. Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado said that it is important to create public awareness on preventive measures against the mosquito-borne viral disease through information dissemination campaign and by promoting the 4’0 clock habit to curb the increasing cases of dengue fever in Bulacan more particularly in the 197 barangays that were observed with clustering of dengue cases and in 107 barangays that were considered as hotspots.
“Hindi tayo titigil na ipaalala sa mga Bulakenyo ang kahalagahan ng malinis at ligtas na kapaligiran. Ugaliin nating gawin ang 4’o clock habit ng Kagawaran ng Kalusugan dahil isa ito sa mga paraan upang mapigilan natin ang pagtaas ng kaso ng dengue sa lalawigan. Walang sinumang Bulakenyo ang dapat na mawalan ng buhay dahil sa sakit na ito,” the governor said.
Alvarado also encouraged the Bulakenyos to listen to instructions from local authorities, community leaders and health officers and be cooperative enough to join the Aksyon Barangay Kontra Dengue activity of their respective barangays.
Meanwhile, Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Jocelyn Gomez also said that they will conduct spraying and larviciding after the clean-up drive and will continue with their massive information campaign to prevent dengue through fliers distribution.
According to the Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit as of October 23, there are already 15 deaths in the province and 6,679 cases of dengue from January 2015 which is 321% higher compared to 1631 of the same period.