INFOBYTES, Issue No. 19, Vol. 1

Dengue kills four; cases seen to rise
Four people have already died resulting from dengue fever in the province as of July this year and local health officials warn that dengue cases will still go up in the following months.

Latest records from the Department of Health (DOH) here show that 81 cases have been reported in July this year, bringing to 294 the total cases reported provincewide since January 2005.

These are cases which have been admitted in the three hospitals in Dumaguete City, says Dr. Socrates Villamor, DOH provincial health team leader, in an interview with Philippine Information Agency.

The four fatalities each come from Valencia, Mabinay, Tanjay City and Dumaguete City.

Dumaguete has the highest number of dengue fever cases with 106, followed by Amlan with 37, Sibulan and Tanjay City with 21 each, Bais City, 16, Sta. Catalina, 14 and Valencia, 10.

Dengue cases reported for the first seven months this year are markedly lower compared to the same period last year.

A total of 350 cases have been recorded from January to July 2004.

But cases are still expected to increase, according to Noel Ferrero, sanitary inspector at the Integrated Provincial Health Office, who warned that August to September are considered the peak months of the dengue months zone period based on the trend of past years.

"The period from June to September is seen as the 'dengue months zone' as these mark the onset of rainy season in the country," says Ferrero.

The sanitary inspector said they are intensifying their health education campaign during regular barangay assemblies, student gatherings and even tapping priests to include in their homily the importance of eliminating mosquito breeding sites at home.

"Instead of fogging, we are pushing for the elimination of breeding sites as this is cost-effective, environment-friendly and very effective," says Ferrero.

He stressed that aside from constantly changing water in flower vases, the inner surface of water containers should also be thoroughly scrubbed since mosquito larvae cling to the surface and survive without water for up to one year.

The mosquito-borne diseases control service of DOH here is also conducting bednet impregnation wherein curtains and mosquito nets are soaked in chemicals as a preventive measure against dengue.

Villamor disclosed that DOH personnel here have also been recently deployed to conduct bednet impregnation in Larena, Siquijor following an increase in dengue cases in the said municipality.

The local DOH chief said around two dengue-related deaths have been reported in Siquijor.

DOH records show a 41 % increase in cases nationwide from January to June 2005 compared to the same period last year.

In a press release from the Media Relations Office of DOH, it was disclosed that from January to June 15 this year, some 5,396 dengue cases have been admitted to different sentinel hospitals across the country. From these cases, 77 deaths were reported.

Central Visayas (579 cases) is number six in the roll of regions with the highest number of dengue cases. The most number of cases reported was in Northern Mindanao (1,242), followed by National Capital Region (965), CARAGA (603), and Central Luzon (603).
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Working moms result to lesser breastfed babies in OrNeg
As more mothers are out working to help supplement the family income, more infants in the province are now being formula-fed and thus missing out on the healthy benefits of breastfeeding.

The number of breastfeeding mothers in Oriental Negros slightly dropped from 66 percent in 2004 to 65 percent this year due to economic factors.

An average of 23,000 to 24,000 live births occur in the province every year, says Dr. Bernarda Cortez, assistant provincial health officer at the Integrated Provincial Health Office.

Cortez said more mothers are now working and do not have the luxury of time to exclusively breastfeed their babies. "Aside from this, most of them also do not know that they can store their breast milk and keep it refrigerated," laments Dr. Cortez.

Dr. Cortez also blames what she calls the "media influence" as she points to commercials of milk formulas enticing mothers to buy formulas as breast milk substitute. "But all those elements that milk formulas claim to have are present in mother's milk and so much more," says Cortez.

In a recent forum re-launching the Mother and Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City, it was disclosed that Filipinos spend an estimated P21.5 billion each year to formula-feed their infants and about P430 million go to infant hospitalization, health consultations and medicines for ailments resulting from formula feeding.

According to Dr. Michael Boñates, a World Health Organization representative who spoke during the said forum, breast milk is free food that is nutritionally superior to any other and yet Filipino families pay for breast milk substitutes at a greater cost to their pocket and to the country's economy.

The 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey shows that only 16 percent of infants are exclusively breastfed up to five months, way below the estimated global exclusive breastfeeding rate of 35 percent.

The said survey shows that infants suffer from not being exclusively breastfed 30 minutes after birth and up to their first six months: some 16,000 children below five years old die every year, 1.2 million episodes of illness and 36,000 hospitalization admissions.

The survey added that around P21.5 billion are spent every year to buy infant formula; P430 million on hospitalization, health facility visits and medicines; P1 billion in wages lost to parents missing work to attend to sick children; and P320 million for funeral costs.

In view of this, Cortez said the 3,000 total barangay health workers in the province have been trained to educate and promote among new mothers the importance of breastfeeding.

Various trainings have been conducted under the Family and Community Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses while ongoing sessions are also being done in line with the Female Functional Literacy program, says Cortez.
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LGUs urged to allocate funds for family planning methods
With an annual growth rate of 2.11%, the population of Oriental Negros is at the risk of increasing rapidly in the next years following the recent pullout of USAID's contraceptive support in the Philippines.

Latest data from the National Statistics Office, which is based on the 1995 to 2000 census, shows that the annual growth rate of the province is pegged at 2.11%, a hike from the 1.94% growth rate recorded in the 1990 to 1995 census. The same data pegs the province's population at 1,130,000 in year 2000.

Based on the 2.11% growth rate, Engr. Ariel Fortuito of NSO here said that the projected population in the province for this year is 1,254,292.

According to Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bernarda Cortez, an average of 23,000 to 24,000 live births occur in the province every year.

The increasing growth rate in the province has caused some concern among local reproductive health advocates in light of the phaseout of the contraceptive support from USAID.

USAID has been supplying the Philippines with contraceptives for more than 30 years and contributed about 80% of the total contraceptive requirements of the country.

According to USAID's 2002-2006 Population, Health and Nutrition Results Framework report, if the country's current national growth rate of 2.36% were to continue, the country's population will double in just over 30 years.

In view of this, Engr. Trelly Marigza, president of the Negros Oriental Family Planning and Reproductive Health Advocates Network (NEOFPRHAN) called on local chief executives to put up a separate budget for family planning and reproductive health programs.

Marigza, speaking during yesterday's Kapihan sa PIA forum, disclosed that due to USAID's phase down of contraceptive support, there is no more condom supply this year while the provision of birth control pills have been cut by 50%.

Cortez confirmed that the Integrated Provincial Health Office has not received supplies of condoms, but they were still able to receive pills and injectible DMPA. "But these will soon be phased out too in 2007," she said.

Cortez said there are currently more than 30,000 family planning contraceptive users in the province, and majority of them are pill users. Most of these users cannot afford to buy contraception on their own, she said.

According to Provincial Population Officer Jeanette Villarubia, the family planning program is largely ignored by local governments and there is a low acceptance to the concept of family planning among the public.

NEOFPRHAN has intensified its lobbying for local governments to allocate funds for contraceptives and so far around six LGUs have responded positively.
Marigza said Bayawan City, Manjuyod, La Libertad, Ayungon, Siaton and Zamboanguita have allocated funds for family planning programs and purchase of contraceptives.

Support from the private sector is also needed, says Marigza.

Friendly Care, a non-government organization catering to family planning services, is holding clinic at the Little Children of the Philippines (LCP) orphanage in Daro, this city. "But their capacity for now is just for non-scalpel vasectomy, as they still bring ligation cases to the hospital," says Marigza.

Marigza says they are trying to convince the Friendly Care officials to extend their services to the public and not just to LCP beneficiaries.
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DFA's mobile passport services in Dgte moved to Aug. 12-13
The Department of Foreign Affairs in Cebu has moved its scheduled Aug. 11 to 12 mobile passport services in Dumaguete City to August 12 to 13, 2005.

The said activity will be held at the Lamberto Macias Sports and Cultural Complex in Dumaguete City.

According to DFA-7 Regional Director Angel D. Espiritu, the change in schedule is due to the request of the Office of the ASEAN and China Cooperation in DFA Manila for DFA Cebu to assist in the upcoming Drug Demand Reduction Pillar Task Force Meeting of the Dangerous Drugs Board on August 4 to 5.

Among the passport services that will be processed during the two-day activity here are change of citizenship, fiancées and spouses of foreign nationals, minors (below 18 years old), adopted children, etc.

The public is advised to have their requirements ready such as authenticated birth certificate, three copies of 4.5 cm x 3.5 cm. new photo (colored with plain white background) showing the applicant in decent attire with collar.

For more information on the required documents, applicants may visit the DFA website at www.dfa.gov.ph.
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Rubber plantation, a promising industry in Oriental Negros
Rubber plantation may soon become a thriving industry in the province following a tie-up "business/program scheme" between the provincial governments of Oriental Negros and North Cotabato that is aimed at strengthening the agro-reforestation program in the province.

North Cotabato Governor Emmanel F. Piñol was in the province recently to attend the Consultative Orientation forum on Agro-Reforestation Program held July 30 and to show his support to Gov. Arnaiz's plan of setting up a rubber tree plantation in the province.

According to Arnaiz, the said industry is hoped to boost the farmers' income as profits are guaranteed every fifteen days.

The program scheme also includes a tie-up with Mindanao Rubber Development Industries Inc., a marketing arm for rubber produce that exports all the rubber produce in Mindanao to Europe, USA and some Asian countries.

Under the said scheme, Arnaiz said that North Cotabato will provide good quality planting materials and experts for the technology transfer while Oriental Negros will provide seedlings thru a plant-now-pay-later (PNPL) system and facilitate and fund technology transfers thru trainings, etc.

On the other hand, MRDI will act as collection agent of the provincial and municipal governments for PNPL as Land Bank will provide windows for rubber plantation development, soft loans to local government units for their PNPL and rubber nursery development.
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TESDA Siquijor observes TVET month
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Siquijor Provincial Office spearheads the observance of Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) month in August in the province.

Together with its partners and stakeholders, the TESDA provincial office has lined up the activities for the month: August 1-15 will be youth profiling for starring career; August 9-12 "free" assessment and certification in data encoder, electricity, electronics, cookery, bartending, automotive mechanic, baking, dressmaking and welding at the Siquijor State College (SSC), Lazi National Agricultural School (LNAS), Lazi Skills Development Center (LSDC) Balite Institute of Technology (BIT) and Quezon Memorial Institute of Siquijor (QMIS).

There will also be a provincial selection of contestant in the five trade areas on August 23-24, who will represent the province during the 2005 regional skills competition in Bayawan, Negros Oriental.

August 25 marks the celebration of the 11th TESDA anniversary which will feature sports activities at Camogao, Enrique Villanueva Beach Resort with LNAS & LSDC staff together with the members of the Provincial Technical Education and Skills Development Committee (PTESDC), Provincial Competency Assessment and Certification Committee (PCACC), Community Training and Employment Coordinators (CTECs) and LNAS School Board.

A memorandum of agreement will be signed on August 30 between SSC, TESDA-LNASand TESDA-PO regarding the ladderization program of ATC, HRST and TAT and on August 31 the TVET forum.

One of the highlights of the month-long celebration is the conduct of a "free" assessment and certification in selected trade areas which are open to all technical-vocational students, industry workers and walk-in participants who wanted to acquire a Certificate of Competency (COC) or "license" in blue collar occupations. COC of a particular trade area will serve as their "passport" for employment either for domestic or for overseas employment.
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LNAS backs PGMA's food security prog
SIQUIJOR-- The Lazi National Agricultural School (LNAS) has distributed close to 2,000 "lakatan" plantlets (suckers, corns, propagules) to various farmers associations and individuals in Siquijor. Many of these plantlets were given free to indigent farmer-groups.

Recipients included the Calunasan Scavengers Association, Basak Women's Association of Larena and the Balolong Lakatan Growers Association of Enrique Villanueva.

Part of the dispersal package included a three-day seminar workshop on banana production practices facilitated by the school in coordination with the local government units of the respective organization.

One of the outstanding traits of "lakatan" being a close progeny of "Gross Michel," is its superior eating and handling qualities particularly to transporting because of its thick peelings compared to "latundan." "Gross Michel" composed the bulk of bananas first exported from South America to the US and Canada in the 1950's.

The government has identified the food sector a priority area for development. It has noted the relevance of food that goes beyond health and nutrition but also as a significant factor in the country's development.
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