BONTOC, Mountain Province –The Department of Health declared this province malaria-free during the World Malaria Day celebration last Thursday in Paracelis.
DOH Assistant Regional Director AmelitaPangilinan who gave the keynote speech explained that being malaria-free means the absence of any malaria case for the last five years. She said the last reported cases were recorded in 2010 in Paracelis and Natonin. Last year, an assessment team from the DOH central office visited the two towns and observed no malaria-related illnesses paving the way for the declaration.
At the turn of the century, four towns of the province – Besao, Tadian, Natonin, and Paracelis – were reported to be malaria-infected with Paracelis as the tenth most affected town in the whole country.
In 2008, then Mountain Province governor Maximo Dalog and Ifugao governor Teddy Baguilat forged an agreement to cooperate in an effort to combat the spread of the disease which affected communities bordering the two provinces. This agreement was known as the Gawis-Hagiyo Cooperating Mechanism. Five years later, the province of Kalinga joined the alliance giving birth to the Gawis-Hagiyo-Lin-awa Cooperating Mechanism.
The triumvirate worked closely with the Department of Health and other non-government organizations funded by the World Health Organization.
Provincial Health Officer Nenita Lizardo said that before the formation of the tactical alliance, the DOH through its regional office had been battling the disease. Since the 1950s, the DOH had been spraying identified endemic areas to kill malaria-carrying mosquitos. It has also ordered the cutting of trees and vegetative covers along creeks and streams reportedly inhabited by the dreaded mosquito. Treated mosquito nets were later on distributed by DOH to households in coordination with the Shell Foundation and the Tropical Disease Foundation.
Lizardo added that in 1989 more than 50% of the people in affected areas were at risk of being infected. In 1991, the province was still included in the category A bracket with more than 1000 reported malaria cases. A decrease in the number of infections was reported in 2001 and in last five years, not a single case was recorded.
In his message during the affair last Thursday, Governor Bonifacio Lacwasan expressed his gratitude to all offices and countless individuals who worked collaboratively to fight malaria in the province. “Let me take this opportunity to thank our partners from the national, regional and provincial employees of the Department of Health, the various non-government organizations, the provincial and municipal local government health workers; and of course, the barangay health workers,” Lacwasan said.
“Malaria had been one of the killer diseases in this part of our province. So if you look around this municipality, it is one of least inhabited, the least visited, and the least developed areas in the province. This is because of the fear of possible infection. But now, the area is now cleared. Anybody can come and enjoy for himself the beauty of this municipality,” the governor added.
ByAngel Baybay
