80 provinces now malaria-free

MANILA, Philippines — Only one of the 81 provinces nationwide has yet to be declared free of malaria.

“As of this time, 80 out of the 81 provinces in the country are all malaria-free except for Palawan,” Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire told a press conference yesterday.

“We are working closely with the local government of Palawan so that it can also achieve the status of being malaria-free,” she said.

Last year, Oriental Mindoro, Rizal, Aurora and Cotabato were declared free of malaria by the DOH.

Vergeire said the absence of local transmission in the past five years is among the criteria for a province to be declared malaria-free.

She said studies of endemic areas for malaria in the country are ongoing.

“We know that malaria is not just about mosquitoes, but also checking the environment where the mosquito thrives so that we can be able to prevent its transmission,” Vergeire said.

She said the DOH is working with the private sector and World Health Organization (WHO) to help Palawan achieve a malaria-free status.

The WHO said malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. The disease is preventable and curable.

453 dengue cases, 4 deaths in Western Visayas

Meanwhile, Western Visayas logged 453 cases of dengue, another mosquito-borne disease, last month, the DOH regional Center for Health and Development reported yesterday.

Dengue cases increased by 175 percent in the region compared to 165 recorded during the same period last year.

Two dengue-related deaths were recorded in Negros Occidental and one each in the cities of Iloilo and Capiz from Jan. 1 to 28, DOH records showed.

Negros Occidental logged the highest number of cases at 124 followed by Iloilo with 90; Antique, 49; Capiz, 43; Iloilo City, 28; Guimaras, nine; Aklan, seven, and Bacolod City, five.

The DOH said Aklan recorded the highest increase in dengue cases from three in January last year. It noted clustering of cases in 24 barangays.

Aklan declared a state of calamity last year due to dengue as cases increased by 684 percent.

Western Visayas is among 15 of the 17 regions in the country that had surpassed the dengue epidemic threshold.

The public has been advised to observe the so-called 4S – search and destroy, seek early consultation, self-protection, and support fogging in hotspot areas – to prevent the spread of dengue, which is carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. – Gilbert Bayoran