Dengue Cases Rise in Kidapawan City

Here’s about dengue cases in Kidapawan.

KIDAPAWAN CITY, North Cotabato—Health authorities here are alarmed by the continuing increase in the number of dengue cases despite an intensified campaign against the mosquito-borne ailment.
Gloria Mondejar, city health sanitary inspector, said based on their records, 192 dengue cases were reported during the first five months of the year. This was more than double the 87 cases recorded during the same period last year, she added.
Mondejar said what was alarming was that the increase occurred even if the city health office had intensified its anti-dengue campaign.
“This is alarming, that is why the city health office is now intensifying more its campaign against dengue in all 40 villages of the city,” she said.
Among the areas where a large number of dengue cases were reported this year were the villages of Lanao, Poblacion, Sudapin, Magsaysay and Singao.
Mondejar said they were replicating the anti-dengue campaign in Barangay Patadon, a Muslim community, where not a single case of dengue has been reported since the start of the year.
“City health officials lauded the village officials of Patadon for working hard in the campaign against dengue in their area,” Mondejar said.
She said among the things the city health found was that residents of Patadon were very active in cleaning their surroundings.
Mondejar said they were now using the Patadon example in encouraging residents of other places to trim or cut the branches of trees near their homes and rid their neighborhoods of possible mosquito breeding areas.
In Cotabato City, the Maguindanao provincial health office also said dengue cases rose during the first five months of the year compared to the same period last year.
Dr. Tahir Sulaik, Maguindanao provincial health officer, said his office has recorded 90 cases of dengue in at least six towns in Maguindanao.
Of the 90 patients, one died, he said.
Sulaik identified the town of Datu Odin Sinsuat, where many residents displaced by the 2008 violence between the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front continue to live, as having the highest number of dengue cases.
From January to May, at least 29 cases were recorded in Datu Odin Sinsuat.
Sulaik urged residents to develop the habit of burning dried grass and leaves in the afternoon to ward off mosquitoes.
Empty bottles and containers inside homes should also be disposed of lest mosquitoes breed in them.