To further ensure that the fight against malaria remains on track, the Department of Health-CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) has provided equipment to the five Malaria Elimination Hubs located in the provinces to be used for diagnostic and entomological training, quality assurance, and research and development.
“We will continue to provide all the support needed in the fight against malaria to attain our objective of eliminating malaria by 2020 or the sooner the better,” said Regional Director Eduardo Janairo during the hand-over ceremony of the equipment at the BSA Towers, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City.
The DOH official said that there are still three provinces in the region which have yet to be declared as malaria-free and added that his office will ensure that “every resident of these affected municipalities will be malaria-free.”
‘We need to have reliable diagnosis, highly effective and appropriate treatment and preventive measures to manage and implement malaria interventions,” he added.
He also reminded local health officials to make sure that the donated equipment will also have funds for maintenance and preservation.
“It is important na hindi mapabayaan at bigyan natin ng halaga lahat ng mga kagamitan na ating mga natatanggap dahil ang mga ito ay napakaimportante sa ating trabaho, lalu na at nagagamit natin ito to ensure quality malaria services, timely detection of infection at immediate response.”
Some of the donated equipment include a stereoscope microscope, a desktop computer package with printer and uninterruptible power supply (UPS), chinstrap, coverall, faceshield, global positioning system (GPS), gloves, hard hart, visor bracket and carabao bait trap (CBT).
Two provinces in the CALABARZON area –Cavite and Batangas – have already been declared as malaria-free.
According to the 2018 Malaria status, a total of 4,933 cases were reported in the country. From this figure, 4,847 were local cases and 86 were imported cases.
The National Capital Region has 27 confirmed cases. CALABARZON has seven confirmed cases, while Palawan accounts for 94% of the cases.
Malaria Elimination Hubs are established in epidemic-risk and malaria free provinces/cities with the responsibility of overseeing and sustaining malaria-free status of different respective provinces and cities.
The hubs will ensure anti-malaria interventions in areas with stable and unstable transmission of malaria, and shall sustain provisions of anti-malarial diagnostic, treatment and preventive measures in epidemic-risk, malaria-prone and malaria-free areas.
This will also ensure that anti-malaria services are accessible to all clients and community members even in malaria-prone or malaria-free areas.
The Philippines envisions the country to be Malaria Free by 2030. The goal is to reduce malaria incidence in the Philippines by 90% in 2022.
Currently, there are 50 provinces declared as malaria free; 27 with various malaria stage elimination and four with Malaria cases recorded based on a report released by the National Malaria Elimination Program.”‹