The local government may impose a “no cleanup, no Lingap” policy as one of the ways to reduce dengue incidents in the city.
“We need a new strategy,” Councilor Mary Joselle Villafuerte, committee on health chair, said in an interview during the orientation on mosquito-borne diseases prevention and control and outbreak preparedness.
“Our biggest challenge is really the attitude of the residents. During a census, we can observe that some of our residents don’t really clean their surroundings,” she added.
The cleanliness of the surroundings of a resident may soon be a requirement for Lingap medical assistance.
“I will be bringing this up to the barangays if they think this is a good idea. For example, if one gets sick, they should acquire a barangay citation certificate that they comply with clean-ups initiated by the barangay council,” Villafuerte said.
“The mayor is very strict with the ‘no helmet, no Lingap policy.’ So, we can also impose that if our residents ask for barangay clearance as a requirement for Lingap assistance, the barangay should look into their houses if the residents comply with the cleanliness,” she added.
According to Villafuerte, there have been eight deaths related to dengue for this year alone.
Based on the data of the City Health Office, from January to July this year, Barangay 76-A and Buhangin had the highest number of dengue cases with 176 each. This is followed by Barangay Talomo with 171 cases.
The other barangays with a high number of cases are Matina Crossing (147), Barangay 19-B (128), Barangay Ma-a (115), and Barangay Daliao (101).
Yesterday, the city gathered various barangay heads to address the increasing number of dengue cases in the city.
The rising dengue cases, however, is not limited to Davao City. In fact, the Department of Health already declared a national dengue alert.
On July 15, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said four regions in the country already exceeded their epidemic threshold.
These are Mimaropa, Central Visayas, Western Visayas, and Northern Mindanao.
Meanwhile, Davao Region—along with Zamboanga Peninsula and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao—already breached the alert threshold. These regions are being closely monitored by the DOH.
Nationwide, dengue cases already reached 106,630 cases, which is almost double the number of cases last year.
