Koronadal City—South Cotabato is still filariasis-free, Sanitary Inspector Jose Barroquillo confirmed earlier today.
“We don’t want to break the record because of negligence,” Barroquillo said during a weekly Kapihan sa Kapitolyo.
However, with the pandemic, health officials put the filariasis program on the top eight in the province’s health priority list.
Mosquito-Borne Disease Program Team got a stronghold against filariasis because of the continued support from barangay officials and Filariasis-concerned communities.
In the latest health report, South Cotabato is still filariasis-free since 2017, following the first declaration last 2013.
To sustain the gains as Filaria-free, 26 mountain-top communities of Tboli received anti-filaria drugs last May and June this year to stop the transmission interruption.
Barroquillo and his team distributed 2, 080 treated mosquito nets in 18 sitios of Barangay Maan and eight sitios of Barangay Mongcayo.
Meanwhile, during a regular visit from 2019 to 2020 in Barangay Maan and Mongcayo, Tboli, the team reported 33 new cases through a Filariasis Testing Strips but, Barroquillo quickly stated that “it is not alarming.”
“There is no outbreak,” he confirmed, stressing that the affected population is far from the national alert level.
According to the previous record, cases appeared in a few communities in the City of Koronadal, Lake Sebu, Tupi, and Tboli.
The province is also a Malaria-Free Province.
