Department of Health. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines—The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) reported 1,481 measles-rubella cases as of March 16, the highest number in the country this month, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.
The number of infections in BARMM is more than half of the 2,661 total measles-rubella cases logged nationwide since January, the health agency added.
On March 22, BARMM’s Ministry of Health (MOH) declared a measles outbreak in the region. The MOH said most infected people were unvaccinated, prompting the BARMM government to initiate a vaccination drive.
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The DOH promised to assist BARMM in its inoculation campaign. It said intensive and simultaneous vaccinations in all BARMM barangays be from April 1 to 12.
“We are aiming to reach 1.3 million children in BARMM,” the agency said in a statement sent via Viber.
The DOH said it would help BARMM’s MOH facilitate coordination, monitoring, and reporting of the outbreak response interventions through the local Public Health Emergency Operations Center.
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The DOH said that with MOH, they have also taken steps to ensure readiness for measles outbreak response immunization and case monitoring and management.
“In this holiest of months for both Muslims and Christians, the DOH joins our sisters and brothers in MOH Barmm to protect Filipino children. We are ready as one country to fight measles, dahil sa Bagong Pilipinas, Bawat Buhay ay Mahalaga,” Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said in the same DOH statement.
The DOH further said the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and other laboratories in the country have already performed more than 1,000 confirmatory tests for measles and rubella.