In Maguindanao, campaign to prevent spread of measles takes ‘Tokhang’ path

SHARIFF AGUAK, MAGUINDANAO—Gripped by Dengvaxia scare, many parents in Maguindanao province have been avoiding health centers, where antimeasles shots are being administered to children, a provincial health official said.

Although Tahir Sulaik, Maguindanao health officer, did not provide figures showing a drop in the number of parents allowing their children, aged 0 to 59 months, to be given vaccines, he said his office decided to conduct a house-to-house drive because of the refusal of many families to cooperate in the government’s immunization program.

Education campaign

The Senate and the House of Representatives have been conducting separate inquiries into claims that a number of children have died after receiving shots of the antidengue vaccine Dengvaxia, which the government has endorsed for an immunization program targeting public school pupils in select provinces.

“Our health workers are going out of their stations into residential areas to intensify the campaign against measles through massive education and vaccination,” Sulaik said on Tuesday.

He said his office had adopted a campaign akin to the police’s “Oplan Tokhang,” (from the words “toktok” and “hangyo,” or knock-and-plead approach) by also knocking on every door and pleading with parents to allow their children to be given shots against the deadly but preventable disease.

“This is to bring vaccines to the doorsteps of our people,” he said.

The Department of Health in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) earlier declared a measles outbreak after it confirmed 14 cases from December 2017 to Feb. 20 this year.

Appeal

ARMM Health Secretary Kadil Sinolinding Jr. said six of the patients had died.

“We have declared an outbreak because 14 cases region-wide is [considered] alarming after [we conducted] measles elimination programs in the past years,” he said.

According to Sinolinding, a single confirmed case of measles is already considered an outbreak under standards set by the World Health Organization.

Sulaik said he joined a measles education and information caravan on Monday so he could appeal to parents to have their children immunized.

“There are parents in remote villages who are reluctant to have their children vaccinated. That is one of the hindrances,” Sulaik said, adding that the Dengvaxia controversy contributed to the parents’ reluctance.

Despite this setback, Sulaik said health workers continued to visit communities. “We don’t give up easily. We continue persuading them [and we believe that it is] just a matter of educating parents,” he said.

He said health workers were given instructions not to force their way in and only administer the vaccine once parents gave them consent. —EDWIN O. FERNANDEZ