5 barangays in Kidapawan monitored for dengue outbreak

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines  --- Local health authorities have placed under montioring five barangays here following the deaths of five children afflicted with dengue fever between January and May this year.

Physician Ted Calica, assistant health secretary here, said they have recorded 277 dengue cases during the period.

Calica said they have been monitoring Barangays Poblacion, Singao, Kalasuyan and Lanao here, where  dengue cases  were  recorded from January 2013 to May 2013.

Kidapawan City, capital of North Cotabato, has the highest recorded dengue incidences in the past five months, records obtained from the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) showed.

Next to Kidapawan City is the municipality of Mlang, where 245 people, mostly children, have contracted dengue, followed by  Kabacan and Midsayap, both in the first district of North Cotabato, with 155 and 100 cases, respectively.

The chief of North Cotabato IPHO, physician Duvia Tabugo, said they have recorded 1, 302 dengue cases in the province in the past five months.

Tabugo and Calica  said they  are now engaging in  massive information campaigns  to educate villagers to prevent  the spread of dengue fever and eradicate breeding places of dengue-carrying mosquitoes.