DAVAO City has maintained its status as a malaria-free zone since 2021, an official from the City Health Office-Tropical Disease Prevention and Control Unit confirmed.
During Madayaw Davao on Friday, Melodina Babante, program manager of the Tropical Disease Prevention and Control Unit, said the city has sustained the title for four years now.
“Davao City sustained its malaria-free zone. It is a zone because our endemic areas are only Marilog and Paquibato districts,” Babante said.
At present, CHO has no record of any local or indigenous cases from areas in Marilog and Paquibato district where Malaria was endemic.
Indigenous cases are those that are reported within the endemic areas, while imported cases are from outside Davao City, such as Overseas Filipino Workers returning from Sudan and South African countries.
“During our inspection, when we record a positive case from the endemic areas, it is labeled alarming and recorded as a local case,” she said.
The CHO is pushing for an ordinance requiring OFWs from these countries to undergo malaria screening at the airport before they can proceed.
Babante said it only takes 15 minutes to confirm if a person has malaria through a rapid diagnostic test.
While Davao City was declared Malaria-free in 2021, the CHO continues to conduct monitoring and surveillance activities every six months.
“We conduct mass blood surveys, where we examine the residents, and we also provide vector control like mosquito nets,” Babante said.
The office also conducts indoor residual spraying in the houses to protect the residents living in those areas.
According to the Department of Health, malaria is a mosquito-borne, as well as a blood-borne, disease. Although it can be fatal, it is now also largely preventable through prophylactic medication.
It is caused by several species of the parasite Plasmodium, which is transmitted to humans through the mosquito Anopheles. Typical symptoms resemble a flu-like illness, including fever, chills, headache and muscle aches, and tiredness.
Photo by Ronald Langeveld on Unsplash
