By Perla Lena/Philippine News Agency
ILOILO CITY — The Department of Health – Center for Health Development (DOH-CHD) 6 (Western Visayas) could not yet determine as to when the measles outbreak declaration would be lifted amid declining cases in the region.
Dr. Renilyn Reyes, head of the DOH-CHD 6 family, health and nutrition cluster, said during a press conference on Monday that only the health secretary can lift the outbreak declaration.
It can be lifted provided that no case of measles is monitored in the next 42 days and there is a decreasing trend based on the alert and epidemic threshold, she said.
While the cases are on a decline, the figure is still higher than the epidemic threshold.
She attributed the decline to the effective conduct of vaccination and natural immunity due to natural infections.
The shortened outbreak period was due to the effective outbreak response through immunization activities.
“At this time, we are still on an outbreak mode in terms of surveillance and in terms of vaccination,” she said.
DOH data showed that as of April 17, Western Visayas had 83 laboratory-confirmed measles cases out of 1,907 reported cases.
Seven deaths were recorded with one death each from Sibalom, Antique; Roxas City, Capiz; Calinog, Iloilo; and four from the cities of Bago, Escalante, Sagay, and Silay in Negros Occidental province.
Reyes added that currently, they are still doing mop-up vaccination because there remains some 97,877 children aged six to 59 months who were not covered by the supplemental immunization activity (SIA) conducted in 101 local government units in the region.
However, it does not mean that the remaining un-immunized have not availed of any immunization, she clarified.
DOH-CHD 6 Medical Officer III Dr. Mary Jane R. Juanico, meanwhile, said a mop-up vaccination is ongoing until May 15.
The mop-up vaccination prioritizes high risk barangays based on the assessment conducted by the local government unit.
“Priority areas are those barangays with very low coverage of the supplemental immunization, as well as those barangays that continue to record measles cases,” Juanico said.
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