BUTUAN CITY, (PNA)–Top regional, provincial and municipal health officials and the local government units of Surigao del Sur gathered on Wednesday as the Department of Health, Caraga declared the province as “Filariasis-Free,” according to its official release to the press, Thursday.
The DOH 13 official communication released to the media outlets here said that the declaration of the province to such status “is a result of the focused endeavor of the DOH in partnership with the local efforts to eliminate Filariasis in the province.”
The DOH also said that “Filariasis” or scientifically known as “Lymphatic Filariasisor Elephantiasis (Danlak/Buyong)” is an infection of the filarial worms “Wuchereria bancrofti Brugia malayi or B. timori.” These parasites are transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito and develop into adult worms in the lymphatic vessels, causing severe damage and swelling (lymphoederma). Elephantiasis is characterized by painful, disfiguring swelling in the legs and the genital organs, which is a classic sign of the late-stage disease.
The DOH also said that Filariasis is a major parasitic infection, which continues to be a public health problem in the Philippines. It was discovered in the Philippines in 1907 by foreign workers. Consolidated field reports showed a prevalence rate of 9.7 percent per 1,000 population in 1998.
It is the second leading cause of permanent and long disability.The disease affects mostly the poorest municipalities in the country about 71 percent of the case live in the 4th to 6th class type of municipalities.
According to the DOH that in 1960, 43 of the 63 existing provinces of the Philippines were shown to be endemic for the disease, leading to the creation of the National Filariasis Control Program (NFCP) in 1963. The World Health Assembly in 1997 declared “Filiariasis Elimination” as priority and followed by the WHO’s call for the global elimination of the disease.
A sign of DOH commitment to eliminate the disease, the program’s official shift from control to elimination strategies which was evident in Administrative Order # 25-A series of 1998 disseminated to all endemic regions. Thus the National Filariasis Control Program (NFCP) was turned into the National Filariasis Elimination Program (NFEP).
In 2010, two provinces in Caraga were declared Filaria-Free; Agusan del Sur and the province of Dinagat Island, declared as 6th and 7th respectively.
Year-round mass treatment of population in the disease endemic areas has been the main approach of the program (NFEP), wherein, a round of mass treatment would be evaluated every two years. For Surigao del Sur in 2012, more or less 3,500 individuals were examined and tested via an immunochromatographic test (ICT) which showed that no traces of the parasites was noted.
Samples coming from the same population were sent to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia for confirmation and validation. Surigao del Sur is the third province in the region and the 19th in the national roster declared as Filariasis-Free.
“Optimum productivity of our citizens can ultimately be achieved through a healthy population. Filariasis poses as one of the major causes of disability as evidenced by the effects of the disease on an individual. We have been combating the disease for years and we are delighted to be declaring another province as Filariasis-Free. This is a big leap towards the attainment of MDG for Disease Free Zone, Filariasis being one of the disease targets. This is the statement of victory for the health sector in the fight against Filariasis. This serves as a challenge for the remaining two provinces to intensify their Filariasis elimination campaign to be declared Filiarasis-Free by 2015. So that with our steadfast collective efforts, a Filiarasis-Free Philippines is surely just around the corner,” said Regional Director (OIC) Minerva P. Molon of the DOH-CHD Caraga.