EDITORIAL - Preventing dengue

Residents in a subdivision in Quezon City have launched a campaign against dengue by paying P1 for every dead mosquito presented to the organizers of the drive. The city has declared a dengue outbreak. The Department of Health has said at least eight more areas in the country may also declare an outbreak of the potentially deadly disease. The eight, which the DOH did not identify, are in Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Central Luzon.

Dengue is also on the rise in other parts of the country including Negros Occidental, which recorded 849 cases since the start of the year until Feb. 15, with six deaths. During the same period last year, the province recorded only 174 dengue cases, according to the local health office. Nationwide, the DOH recorded 28,234 dengue cases in January alone – an increase of 40 percent from the same period in 2024.

Obviously, mosquitoes will not be completely eradicated even after P1 million has been spent on rewards. But the campaign has drawn public attention and raised awareness of the need to keep out mosquitoes amid the spread of dengue.

In the absence of a vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the DOH is reiterating the importance of the so-called “4s” strategy. This refers to seeking early consultation when symptoms emerge, searching for and destroying mosquito breeding sites, self-protection through the use of insect repellent and long-sleeved tops and pants, and supporting fogging and misting.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Medical Association is urging President Marcos to step in and speed up the approval by the Food and Drug Administration of a new-generation dengue vaccine. Amid the dengue outbreak, the PMA launched this week in Quezon City the Empowering Networks to Defeat Dengue or End Dengue Coalition, whose goal is to have zero deaths due to dengue in the country by 2030.

The PMA is referring to Qdenga, which has been approved by the World Health Organization as a vaccine against dengue and which 40 countries have approved for use. Qdenga, made by Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda, has been waiting for FDA approval since 2023, the PMA noted. It is one of just two dengue vaccines approved by the WHO, the other one being Sanofi-Pasteur’s Dengvaxia, which became mired in controversy in the Philippines and caused strong vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos even in other preventable diseases such as measles and polio.

There are ways to prevent illness and death due to dengue. Both the national and local governments must move quickly and decisively to prevent a dengue epidemic.