Image by Daniella Marie Agacer
COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao del Norte, Philippines — A total of 70 people in two regions of Mindanao were recorded to have died from dengue infection in the last six months, data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed.
In the Soccsksargen region, comprising the provinces of South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and the highly urbanized city of General Santos, health authorities counted 32 deaths from January to June 15. This is out of 9,042 recorded cases.
In Northern Mindanao, there were 38 deaths from January to June 22 out of 8,485 cases.
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Roxfrestopher Boholst, mosquito-borne disease cases regional coordinator in Soccsksargen, said the number of dengue cases rose by 44 percent, from only 6,275 cases during the same period last year.
Boholst said Cotabato had the highest mortality with 15, followed by South Cotabato with seven, Sultan Kudarat with five, General Santos City with four, and Sarangani with one.
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Cleanup drives
Cotabato province also had the highest number of cases at 3,541, followed by South Cotabato (1,814), Sultan Kudarat (1,338), Sarangani (1,303) and General Santos (1,046).
Boholst said cases in General Santos declined from last year’s count, but he sounded the alarm for Cotabato, which showed a 126-percent rise in cases from last year’s record.
He appealed to the region’s residents to continue cleanup drives at home and in their communities to destroy the breeding ground of mosquitoes to help contain the dengue infection.
In Northern Mindanao, Jasper Kent Ola of the DOH’s Regional Epidemiology Surveillance and Disaster Response Unit said the 8,485 dengue cases in the region showed a 35-percent increase compared to the 6,267 cases during the same period last year. Of these, 38 had died due to the disease.
Of the regional total, Bukidnon province had the most cases, accounting for 39 percent.