Calabarzon declared malaria-free

MANILA, Philippines — The entire region of Calabarzon is now malaria-free, according to the Department of Health.

The DOH said Rizal province was recently declared free of malaria.

Cavite was declared malaria-free in 2005, Batangas in 2010 and Laguna and Quezon in 2019.

“We reiterate our commitment to achieve a country-wide malaria-free status by 2030. The goal is within our reach, but we must continue our work to achieve this fully,” DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said in her message during the malaria-free regional celebration held recently at Novotel Hotel in Quezon City.

“The DOH is working to help decrease local transmission of malaria in the country so that all provinces will be able to achieve this elimination status,” Vergeire said.

“We have come this far in the fight against malaria. We should not be complacent as we can still suffer from malaria outbreak even if an area has been declared malaria-free,” she added.

Vergeire said Palawan is the remaining province that has yet to be declared free of malaria.

Vergeire said malaria is indigenous in 95 barangays in Palawan, where up to 3,207 malaria cases were recorded.

”We are working hard to eliminate this illness in the province,” she said.

Vergeire said zero malaria cases should be recorded in Palawan by 2027 to ensure that the country can be declared malaria-free by 2030.

“This is a challenge since we know that the habitat and environment in Palawan is very vulnerable and very adaptive as sites for malaria due to mosquitoes,” she said.

Vergeire said breeding sites of mosquitoes that cause malaria should be destroyed.

She stressed the need to provide adequate insecticide and implement preventive measures in affected communities.

The World Health Organization says malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.

The disease is preventable and curable.