Valenzuela tackles dengue threat

The Valenzuela city government is working full blast to fight the spread of dengue after finding itself recently in the top five most dengue-prone city in Metro Manila city, officials reported yesterday.

"With the Waste Management Office, our health personnel are now deep into anti-dengue information drive, actually into clearing and fogging operations particularly in District 2 has the most number of cases," said City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian.

Citing recent reports of the Department of Health (DOH), Gatchalian said Valenzuela is among the top five areas in Metro Manila with the highest incidence of dengue cases, 196 at the latest count. The mayor failed to cite the others in the "danger list."

"We have started an intensified campaign last May 25. We launched Oplan Sita in Blocks 1 to 7 in Sitio Kabatuhan where we inspected all houses and declogged canals and cleared every possible breeding grounds of the dengue-causing mosquitoes," said Gatchalian.

Succeeding fogging operations in all schools were conducted over the weekend to ensure the safety of schoolchildren, said city epidemiologist Manuel Mapue.

All barangay chairmen were convened in a meeting on how to eliminate the aedes aegypti, the dengue mosquito.

Mapue said the city health office also coordinated with school principals in the creation of "Little Dengue Brigades" in every school aiming to actively involve the little children in the anti-dengue drive.

Mapue said brigade members will be checking and identifying areas where the mosquitoes are likely to breed and destroy them.

With the onset of the rainy season, the city government is strongly urging every city resident to regularly check and clean areas that store up even clean water.

"We have to join forces in this fight. This is everybody’s responsibility," said Gatchalian. — Jerry Botial, Zsarina Salazar