City legislators recently authorized the local chief executive to enter into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Department of Health–Center for Health Development of the Cordillera Administrative Region (DOH-CHD-CAR) relative to the local government’s anti-dengue program and for the transfer and allocation of funds amounting to P40 million for the said purpose.
Under Resolution No. 255, series of 2023, the health department allocated some P40 million for the city under the 2023 national budget for the city’s prevention and control of communicable diseases, e.g., aedes borne, and for the viral disease prevention and control program.
However, the body required that the signed MOA should be submitted to the council for confirmation.
Earlier, the Mayor requested the council for an authority to enter into a MOA with the DOH-CHD-CAR and for the transfer and allocation of funds amounting to P40 million for the city’s anti-dengue program.
The council admitted that dengue is the fastest spreading vector-borne disease in the world being endemic in more than 100 countries that prompted the health department to launch the National Dengue Prevention and Control Program with the vision of ‘a Dengue-free Philippines’ and a goal of ‘reducing the burden of dengue disease.’
Baguio City recorded some 2,954 dengue cases and 5 dengue-related deaths from January 1 to December 31, 2022 or 121 percent increase of dengue cases last year compared to the previous year.
Dengue is now considered an all-weather disease as cases are now reported year-round unlike in the previous years where it had a cyclic trend such as the surge in cases every 3 years.