Pangasinan sees malaria-free status soon

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—With no malaria cases recorded in Pangasinan province in the last five years, health officials here said they were confident the province would be declared malaria-free this year.

World Health Organization representatives have begun assessing the province, especially its high-risk areas, Dr. Anna Maria Teresa de Guzman, provincial health officer, said on Monday.

The province’s high risk areas include 28 villages in the towns of Agno, Bani, Burgos, Dasol, Infanta, Mabini, Mangatarem, San Nicolas, Sison and Sual.

“In the last five years, we had no endemic cases. But there were three recorded cases where two patients came from abroad and a third patient from a neighboring province,” said De Guzman.

De Guzman said malaria incidence in the province decreased from 39 cases in 2007 to only five in 2010. From 2011 to 2015, not a single endemic malaria case was recorded, she said. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon