Valenzuela rises from dengue crisis

Shortly after being delisted as a dengue hot spot, the city of Valenzuela has mobilized in a bid to reduce further, if not altogether, eliminate the deadly disease in its home ground.

City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian led City Hall officials, employees and local residents yesterday in continuing clean-up campaign to prevent dengue.

Some 200 volunteers from the National Capital Region Command (NCRCOM) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines also joined them in a bloodletting sortie in Barangay Ugong Valenzuela City for the benefit of the city’s dengue patients.

The clean-up and bloodletting campaign was dubbed "Laban ng Bayan Kontra Dengue."

Gatchalian said he was glad that the intended "shock" of declaring last week that the dengue epidemic was already upon the city worked marvelously.

The move of declaring the whole city a dengue hot spot, instead of being selective with only four of its 32 barangays hit the hardest, made the local residents more aware and more motivated to fight the disease.

At latest count, based on a dengue surveillance update of the city health department, some 10 persons have died since January this year.

From Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, the city racked up 740 cases.

Camanava epidemiologist Manuel Mapue said the most affected (50 percent) was the five to 14 years age group, 53 percent of the total being males. Hot spot barangays continue to be comprised of Marulas, Karuhatan, Gen. T. de Leon and Malinta.

In less than a week after the outbreak was declared, Valenzuela was delisted from among the other cities and municipalities still grappling with the problem.