In fight vs malaria, PPP found effective

DAVAO CITY—The public-private partnership (PPP) concept that Malacañang had flaunted as the fastest way to get projects done actually worked in Compostela Valley, where a PPP program was credited with bringing down cases of malaria from 174 to four.

Cynthia Micarandayo, malaria program coordinator of the provincial health office, said the number of malaria cases in the province had gone down to four since the PPP program started in 2008.

Micarandayo said in 2007, the province was battling with a surge in the number of malaria cases that reached 174 and which health authorities said was alarming.

In 2008, the provincial government entered into a partnership with Pilipinas Shell Foundation and international agencies like the World Health Organization to start a massive program to combat malaria.

The partnership paid off, said Micarandayo. By the end of 2008, the number of malaria cases in the province had gone down by half.

The decline in the number of cases continued. In 2009, only 30 cases were reported and in 2010, it was down to only 11 cases.

Micarandayo said the province’s health workers should also get credit for the successful war on malaria. They had helped detect and treat cases early, she said.

It didn’t take sophisticated gadgets or expensive technology to get the antimalaria program going.

In many instances, all that program workers had to do was distribute mosquito nets laced with insecticides, spray insecticides in known mosquito breeding places and remove possible breeding areas.

This year alone, she said, more than 29,000 insecticide-laced mosquito nets had been distributed and 1,183 houses were sprayed with insecticides. Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao