2 monkeypox cases detected in Bangsamoro province

COTABATO CITY— The Bangsamoro government has intensified its information campaign on the prevention of monkeypox after two residents of Maguindanao del Norte province had tested positive for the disease. 

Six others are also in isolation facilities, under tight medical surveillance, for showing symptoms of monkeypox, too.

Bangsamoro Health Minister Kadil Monera Sinolinding Jr., told reporters on Wednesday, May 21, that one of the two monkeypox patients is from Datu Odin Sinsuat, while the other is a resident of Sultan Kudarat.

Both towns are in Maguindanao del Norte and are close to Cotabato City, the regional capital of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“We have mobilized all our health service teams to exhaust all means of preventing the spread of monkeypox in the areas where the two patients reside,” Sinolinding said.

The office of Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulrauf Abdul Macacua and the Ministry of Health-BARMM are cooperating on measures meant to protect residents of Maguindanao del Norte from monkeypox, according to Sinolinding.

The management of radio stations in Cotabato City and nearby towns had assured to support the information campaign of the MOH-BARMM against monkeypox. 

“We long had this information drive. We are just intensifying it now,” Sinolinding said.