Campaign for dengue prevention
WITH the onset of the rainy season, the Department of Education (DepEd) has embarked on a campaign to ensure the protection of students against Dengue H-Fever. The DepEd drive seeks to keep the schools well informed on how to prevent the incidence and spread of the disease.Dengue is caused by a bite from the Aedes aegypti mosquito that thrives and spreads rapidly particularly during the rainy months. The symptoms begin with a high fever, rash, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, in muscles, and in joints. The severity of the joint pains has given dengue the name "breakbone fever." Nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite are common. A rash usually appears three to four days after the start of the fever. Most dengue infections result in relatively mild illness, but some can progress to dengue hemorrhagic fever (H Fever), which is characterized by the leaking of blood vessels, causing bleeding from the nose, mouth, and gums. If not promptly treated, the blood vessels can collapse, causing shock (dengue shock syndrome). Dengue H Fever can be fatal among children and young adults, in the absence of proper and adequate intervention.
School officials have been instructed to mobilize their personnel and health and nutrition staff to disseminate information on the prevention and control of the disease, and to practice the Four-o’clock Habit, an initiative of the Philippine government that requests residents to practice the cleaning of their surroundings and draining water containers to deny mosquitoes a place in which to lay their eggs, in support of the Dengue Control Program and the Malaria Control Program. DepEd officials urged schools to closely collaborate with parent-teacher community associations, local government units, and City/Municipal Health Officers in the conduct of the 4-S Strategy Against Dengue – Search and destroy mosquito breeding sites, Seek early treatment, Self-protection, and Say "No!" to indiscriminate fogging.
Let us all join the national and local government units and concerned private organizations in the intensified campaign against dengue.
